WoW Designer Claims "Single-Player Games Are Dying"

Hmmm but what about Skyrim? It sold a bunch! But then it's kinda an exception among other RPG games who, like he said, suffer from piracy.

Still, single player or not, i got no plans to stop playing games as long as they are still good.

I would stop playing games if single player games were completely gone. People to this day still talk about their experiences with Final Fantasy 6 and Super Mario RPG, despite the games lacking multiplayer features. Games nowadays are now more focused on multiplayer just because developers can milk more copies out of their games since you need other people to play with.

I don't always want to play with other people and I rather not have to always deal with people who either claim I cheat or use an exploit and claim it's fair game. Multiplayer only games are going to die out eventually when the companies either go under or shut their servers down, but you can never kill off a single player game. Want to keep playing Final Fantasy 6 after 20 years? You can still do that. Want to play Halo 3 20 years later online? Oops! The servers are gone! Better luck next time!

Preach it!

My heart skipped a beat at Mario RPG. So many memories...the battle music still gets stuck in my head from time to time.

No, I couldn't play video games if single-player games become obsolete. I have a ****ed-up work schedule, when I work my friends are off and vice versa. I take advantage of short days and time off to enjoy my single-player games. Besides, even if my friends' work schedules were aligned with mine, why the hell would I want to play with them?

I'm torn. I grew up in the sticks with no freinds who could just come over and play, so I played things like Battletoads singleplayer...Turn to today, and I mostly play things online so that my friends and I can game without having to physically get together. That said, I played Borderlands, a game many speak of as though it's only good in multiplayer, solo because none of my friends had PCs that could run it at the time.

I can't say I'd stop because the market moved in one direction or the other. I can't say I'd keep playing if it did either.

SEE! See what happens when you're an Acolyte of the Evil Empire! I kid.

I almost exclusively play single player games & I play a lot of games. I enjoy the odd co-op experience, but i don't really enjoy any sort of pvp game. I play games for escapism, if I want to see my friends, I'll go see them. If they stop making singe player games I'll have to take up reading or something.

Graphics and framerates often suffer when a game is designed for multiplayer & it can sometimes even detract from the single player campaign just because low res textures are less demanding on the network. I'd like to see more developers dedicate resources to the single player experience.

Having said that, there are some great 12 hour single player games that I simply won't pay full price for (often over NZ$100 on release). I hope people continue to keep making these games though. I don't have the patience to sink hundreds of hours into one gameplay experience, I like to do a solid playthrough or two from a game & then move on to the next world. Spending hundreds of hours wandering around the same world just doesn't hold my interest. Before you ask, I'm 28 & I'm not ADD. I think there are plenty of other gamers like me who will demand solid single player experiences. Multiplayer is an add on, not the key selling point for gamers like me. I will keep giving you money, I just expect value for my dollar.

I play games for two reasons, ranked in order: the narrative, and the level of fun. Games like The Walking Dead, Arkham City, and Spec Ops prove that they aren't mutually exclusive, and I can't see myself enjoying much of a narrative while a bunch of twelve year olds are screaming "***got." MMO's rarely achieve the level of narrative I'm looking for, so I don't even bother anymore. A perfect example of how the quest for better multiplayer can **** a game into oblivion is Homefront. The concept of the game had so much potential, but turned out to be a lackluster attempt at being a CoD clone.

You have to be kidding me right? Almost everyone I know who plays MMOs plays them by themselves including me! What about the Elder Scrolls series? Fallout? Fable? First person shooters? Sorry Blizzard, but single player games will never die.

your optimism is comforting

Not sure if sarcasm, or sincere...lol

sincere, that thumbs-up was from me lol

OH NOES! a person whose livelihood depends on popularity of an MMO (some might say even 2) says that singleplayer games are dying!! Whatever shall we do?!?!


Surgeon General warns that the above comment contains minimum daily dose of sarcasm required for standard functioning of an average internet user.

I guess Blizzard is mad because their single player game, Diablo III, isn't doing as good as hoped.

if single-player video games stopped being developed, then i have no idea what would happen in my case, i don't really want to think about that. i do enjoy multi-player matches on cod and halo every now and then, and while i can get addicted, i always prefer single player experiences. i've never been an MMO person so if MMO's become the one and only type of game to exist, i would stop gaming because nothing would interest me. i prefer story over gameplay most times, but reading a story through text boxes at the beggining of quests is definitely not enough for me. none of the genres i like most would suit multiplayer (stealth, turn-based) so i think that if single-player were to die out, i would loath activision and blizzard for the rest of my life

I love coop games. And i do occasionally play multiplayer games. I played bf3 til i almost dropped from it. And i play loads of shogun total war 2 coop and mass effect 3 coop.

That being said. 90% of my gaming time is in single player.

Naa, they're not gonna die out, big name publishers might neglect the single player aspect to cash in on extra sales and profit they think solely lies in multiplayer, but I think as long as there are people out there who want single player games there will be people willing to code and create them. The indie scene is fantastic for single player experiences (super meat boy, binding of isaac, FTL, mark of the ninja, spelunky... to name but a few) Single player might die out with the big companies, if that happens I'll just stick to indie gaming...

Seems that's where I'm spending most of my gaming hours lately anyway (yay for Steam!)reminds me of the good old days of the C64!