It’s no big secret that modern gaming is becoming more internet based. With players downloading games and game content onto computers and game consoles in increasing numbers, its only a matter of time before the good old fashioned retailer becomes extinct and closes down . However, the biggest change in modern gaming is undoubtedly the growth of multiplayer and co-op gaming. Infinity Ward recently revealed that over 15 million unique gamers have now played COD4 multiplayer online on all available formats (360, PS3 and PC), World of Warcraft now has over 11.5 million subscribers and finally there’s Co- Op; millions of gamers are playing co-op online with Left 4 Dead , Gears of War 2 and Halo 3 (9 million sales to date) just to name just a few. With all this in mind, is “Single Player” gaming in danger of becoming non-existent in a few years time? Will we ever reach the point where game developers start releasing only “multiplayer only” games (as some have started doing already – Team Fortress 2, for example)? Well, luckily for me, that scenario seems unlikely to happen in the foreseeable future because there are simply too many hurdles to overcome.
People Still Love Single Player
Even though the most popular games that sell on consoles are those with both single player and multiplayer, statistics from Infinity Ward on COD4 also show that 46.5% of its 15 million gamers managed to beat the single player game on “any difficulty”. In other words, over 6 million players finished the single player campaign. How many more players are there out there who only managed to get half way? Whichever way you look at it, that’s a lot of gamers who enjoyed playing the single player portion of the game. In addition to this, look at the sales of recent games that only offered single player: Fallout 3 still managed over 3 million, Fable 2 ( mainly played as a single player game) sold over 3 million and so on.
Limited Internet Access
Yes even today, there are still loads of gamers who don’t have internet access while they play games, particularly on consoles. It wouldn’t make much financial sense to cut them out of the equation by offering multiplayer games only. One common reason for this is that, while almost everyone has internet, they don’t have wireless internet so connecting the upstairs game console to the internet connection downstairs is too complicated and expensive.
Multiplayer Isn’t Perfect… yet!
At the present time, multiplayer still has too many complex issues. Firstly, until technology gets better, lag will always be a major problem that can ruin any multiplayer game of any type. Secondly, you are reliant on the game developer to make a decent multiplayer game. If they fail ( anyone still playing Gears of war 2?) then there is not much else you can do with your game disk except trade it in! Thirdly, how many times have you played Horde in Gears or teamed up with others in Left for Dead and then discovered half the people in your team have left? Playing with just one other person in both games modes is a real waste of time. Until developers get better at addressing this issue, people are going to get frustrated! Fourthly, you may have 100 “friends” on your list but, more often than not, they are never around when you need them most. Perhaps they have already finished the game you want to play and have moved onto another game, or maybe they are in a different time zone to you and you’ll never be online. Remember as well, many gamers out there ( due to their parents) are not allowed to play online with other people unless they are “friends”.
And finally, cheats and abusers: perhaps the biggest problem of all with multiplayer! I think we have all had first hand experience of this for me to need to explain more!
So, it looks like single player is here to stay and thank God for that! I can still play “Prince Of Persia” in peace tonight at my own pace without some idiot shouting in my ear or talking to me in French! Long may it last!
