Bethesda didn't want to "force" multiplayer into new Wolfenstein

Some fans may have been miffed to learn the upcoming first-person shooter Wolfenstein: The New Order would not include a multiplayer component, but according to Bethesda, such a mode didn't fit in with Machine Games' creative vision for the game.

"We talked to Machine Games about the game they wanted to make, and multiplayer wasn't in their thought process," Bethesda marketing VP Pete Hines told Eurogamer.

He explained that just because past games in the Wolfenstein series did include multiplayer, that doesn't mean all entries must.

"We're not going to force it down their throats and say, 'Well, the last games did, so you have to do it.' These guys do cool stuff," Hines said. "If you look at The Chronicles of Riddick or you look at The Darkness, those games have a creative element to them that is similar to the things they're doing in Wolfenstein, and that's what attracted us to them, and that's what attracted us to their vision of Wolfenstein."

"And we said, 'OK, run with that.' We're not going to say, 'Oh, we'll find somebody else to do the multiplayer.'"

Bethesda is no stranger to publishing high-profile single-player-only games. The studio is also behind franchises like The Elder Scrolls, Fallout, and Dishonored.

Wolfenstein: The New Order launches for the Xbox 360, Xbox One, PlayStation 3, PlayStation 4, and PC later this year.