With MMORGs and n00b style insults dominating the modern gaming landscape, the writing is on the wall for the single player gamer.
Well, that’s the verdict from one of the head honchos at EA Games.
The label’s president Frank Gibeau reckons that unless games incorporate a multiplayer angle, they’re doomed.
“It’s not only about multiplayer, it’s about being connected,” he told Develop.
“It’s one of my core cultural studio values to allow developers to decide more on what they want to build. And a studio’s creative call needs to be balanced against a commercial imperative, and if you look at online these days – that’s the place to be.”
And it appears he’s not the only one, as he argued that he has the full support of the company.
“I volunteer you to speak to EA’s studio heads; they’ll tell you the same thing,” he added.
“They’re very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay – be it co-operative or multiplayer or online services – as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you’re out. I think that model is finished. Online is where the innovation, and the action, is at.”
While we certainly love a good old fashioned transcontinental flame war and positively revel in the chance to scream anglophilic slang at unbeknowing American teens, we can’t help but feel it’s just part of a whole, and that the single player experience is just as, if not more, rewarding.
