Single-player games "gone in 3 years"

The traditional single-player only game experience will not exist by the end of 2014. That's the prediction of veteran video game consultant Mark Cerny, who has worked with Sony on games such as Crash Bandicoot, Jak and Daxter, Spyro and Ratchet & Clank. "I believe the traditional single-player game experience will be gone in three years," Cerny told an audience at a behind-closed door, Sony-organised panel discussion on the future of video games, attended by Eurogamer, this evening. "Right now you sit in your living room and you're playing a game by yourself – we call it the sp mission or the single-player campaign. In a world with Facebook I just don't think that's going to last." Cerny pointed to 2009 action RPG Demon's Souls as an example of the single-player campaign of the future. "We're already seeing the wall starting to crumble a bit," he said. "Demon's Souls, even though on one level it's a single-player game, as you're walking through the world you're seeing the ghosts of everybody who died in that world via the internet. You can leave messages for them. They can leave messages for you. There's actually a boss you fight in that game which is controlled by another player. "We're talking five, 10 years out. I believe three years from now, if you aren't doing that, you are being criticised in your reviews for your lack of innovation." This shift from single-player only experiences to connected single-player experiences presents a unique problem to game developers, Cerny said. "The funny thing here is, we don't even know what to call this. Is it single-player or is it multiplayer? We don't even have the words. It's kind of Orwellian. If you don't have any word for freedom you can't have a revolution. How can you be talking about design when we don't have the words to describe it? Yet, that will be the standard, I believe, in 2014." Sitting alongside Cerny on the panel was Sony president of Worldwide Studio, Shuhei Yoshida, who said that in the future, all games will have social elements because hardware will be connected. "I believe almost every electronics device will be connected," he said. "It's going to be very natural to have the social connectivity behind your game. So, whether or not it's a real-time, synchronous, head-to-head game or traditional single-player game, you could be connected to the world." "A game without the presence of other players in it – you go out three or five years, I believe that is unthinkable given how connected we're becoming," Cerny concluded.

Not reading all of that wall (use paragraphs) but they def wont be.

The idea behind Demon's Souls is pretty cool, but no way are Single Player only games going away.

Not reading all of that wall (use paragraphs) but they def wont be.

Dawq902

:lol: at people being too lazy to read that tiny wall of text... that's NOTHING. Too lazy to read it, but you bothered to post in the thread...? Doesn't make much sense. Probably took longer to post with all the HTML error BS than it would have to read it.

Anyway, I agree with the OP a bit. I see what this guy's saying and it's very possible that SP will be like that in a few years, but there are always gonna be devs that focus on making traditional SP games imo.

...and if i disconnect from my internet, what happens? Will we all be forced to have internet connections just to play a game. I guess it will be game over for me in three years.

...and if i disconnect from my internet, what happens? Will we all be forced to have internet connections just to play a game. I guess it will be game over for me in three years.

Videodogg

That's what I was thinking about as well... even if games were like that in 3 years, wouldn't you just be able to play offline and get the "traditional" experiences out of them, and make it as if nothing had ever changed about SP? If that wasn't the case, and the only way to play SP was to play online, games would not sell as well. I think devs would avoid that "be online or you can't play the SP" scenario.

I don't care if developers tack on multiplayer options to core single-player genres like RPGs, as long as they don't do so at the expense of the single-player experience. Speaking for myself (but probably echoing plenty of gamers), I don't always WANT to interact with other people when I play.Elraptor

single player games will never die. Thats like saying movies and books will die. There will always be stories to be told and experiences to be had and multiplayer dosent offer that. Indeed Multiplayer has quickly become the key to success for many games because well people want replay value. $60 for a 6 to 10 hour game is too much for many these days but people will still want to play a good SP exp like say skyrim.

Singleplayer gone, i doubt it, but i can see how they might try to add little social elements to the singleplayer experience, similar to what demon soul's did, if they force you to have internet connection to play a singleplayer game then screw that, I'm getting my N64 all the games and playing on a tube tv for the rest of my gaming years, try to connect your precious internet to that!

Yeah...not true. Even if big publishers like EA want to tack on extra crap modes to make a game more "replayable," there will always be smaller companies opting to make a great single player experience instead.

Read the whole post; I disagree.

I enjoy single player campaigns more than multiplayer modes, and I know I am not the only gamer that does. A game like Dead Space 2 has a great multiplayer component, but that game's strength is its single player campaign. Same can be said for many games. To say the industry will see single player games be "gone in 3 years" sounds ludicrous; there are just too many people that enjoy playing video games this way.

Didn't read the original post, but going by the topic title, I disagree totally. Many of my friends only play offline games and very rarely venture online.

Then means Mario and Zelda are gone, which would also dictate that Nintendo goes out of business, all in 2014.

I know this is the xbox forum but the original post pertains to all devices.

I don't care if more games get multiplayer, as long as it doesn't hurt the quality of the singleplayer.

like someone said in this thread its never gunna happen.

that will never happen...

I don't think it will be gone, but i do think a lot more games will add drop in/drop out co-op. I would love a co-op Fallout on the Skyrim engine :-)

I really, really hope that single player games don't go away. If they do, well, gaming not be very much fun anymore, personally... part of the experience is the single player, and a lot of the time I find myself enjoying the single player more than the multiplayer. Imagine Gears of War 3 without a campaign... would be fun, but not as fun (personally). I really hope they don't go away!Ashley_wwe

Read all in the wall. I disagree with all of it.

I don't care who that guy is, but forcing us t play games with an internet connection at all times is not a smart move. I don't see this happening any time soon.

I do see most of the games being mp focused in the near future, hell in the present even! But sp campaigns will not die.

Not everything is better with online, look at splinter cell, look at TES, fallout, any decent rpg!

I don't care if developers tack on multiplayer options to core single-player genres like RPGs, as long as they don't do so at the expense of the single-player experience. Speaking for myself (but probably echoing plenty of gamers), I don't always WANT to interact with other people when I play.Elraptor

True this. Sometimes I play games to get away from other people.

[QUOTE="Ashley_wwe"]I really, really hope that single player games don't go away. If they do, well, gaming not be very much fun anymore, personally... part of the experience is the single player, and a lot of the time I find myself enjoying the single player more than the multiplayer. Imagine Gears of War 3 without a campaign... would be fun, but not as fun (personally). I really hope they don't go away!HilbillyRokstar

Cerny sounds like a tool. If this were to come true I would be devastated. I play computer games to escape reality and disappear into my own world. I dont want to be accompanied by others. I want it to be a singular experience. If I wanted to play with others I would choose that option, not have it forced upon me.

Just not gonna happen, and thank god for that. If everything was connected to social media sites and you had to be connected to the internet, ill keep the systems i got, and find a different hobby. could you imagine, "__________ Just planted the bomb in Search and Destroy on Call of Duty: MW11.5 about 16 sec ago..."

Facebook and all those sites are as bad as it is with "this shmuck just checked into your local porn shop"

I wonder what elese that dude has predicted??? Bills winning this years superbowl??

[QUOTE="HilbillyRokstar"][QUOTE="Ashley_wwe"]I really, really hope that single player games don't go away. If they do, well, gaming not be very much fun anymore, personally... part of the experience is the single player, and a lot of the time I find myself enjoying the single player more than the multiplayer. Imagine Gears of War 3 without a campaign... would be fun, but not as fun (personally). I really hope they don't go away!gatsbythepig

thats total BS. It's sort of like saying "Books printed on paper will be gone in 3 years". We all know books will move more and more to electronic (like the nook) but there are tons of old people that refuse to adopot new technology. Its the same with video games.

Companies will keep making single-player games as long as people keep buying them. Really most games on the Iphone, Psp, and 3DS are single player games. Maybe you'll see fewer single player CONSOLE games, but there are TONS of people that dont want to ONLY play mmo and online shooters 24/7. Sometimes the internet is down and/or you want to just play a game like Fallout3. I honestly play MOSTLY single player games.

Believe it or not, some people dont even have the internet. Why not allow them to play new games too? games that do NOT have a single-player campaign (like Shadowrun for 360) see price drops quite fast and do not feel like complete games. the day that single-player games are no longer made, will be the day I quit gaming... and i dont see that happening in the next 30 years.

[QUOTE="gatsbythepig"][QUOTE="HilbillyRokstar"]Gears of War 3 is NOT a single player game. It is a CO-OP game that can be played alone.wwervin

[QUOTE="wwervin"][QUOTE="gatsbythepig"] That's weird. I always thought it was a single player game, that had co-op. The first time I played the game, I played by myself. Afterwards, I chose to play co-op.HilbillyRokstar

Personally I'm 42 and have been into gaming since 85. I might not be a massive gamer anymore, but the day single-player games end...i stop being a gamer full stop

Not going to happen!

Future tip, break your writing into sections. Not only is it easier to read, but it won't discourage people from actually reading it. On topic, I don't think they will be gone. However, I find multiplayer to be a lot more fun than single player. Competing against actual humans instead of CPU's is a lot more fun.Ghost_702

I highly doubt that will happen but either way, i'll always have plenty of games to play on single player. I've never been a multiplayer gamer.

Single player games gone? Hmm, no they wont. Thank you much!

Read most of the wall and disagree.david60639

I concur.