Jubenhimer
Member
Recently, there's been a trend of several live-service multiplayer titles ending support or having their servers shut down. Everything from Dreams, to Knockout City, to Multi versus all either dropped significantly in player-base, ended support, or closed their servers. And if the recent PS Showcase is anything to go by with the announcement of games such as Foamstars, and Fairgame$ gamers are getting a bit sick of this genre.
Companies riding off a fad or trend in gaming is nothing new. Remember the mid-90s where publishers were tying to find the next Sonic the Hedgehog with attitude-ridden furry Mascots? Remember when everybody wanted to ride the JRPG train following Final Fantasy VII's success in the late 90s? Remember when everybody wanted to be the next Gran Theft Auto or Call of Duty with violent open world sandboxes or military First person shooters? That's what's been happening these past few years, publishers saw the success of ongoing online multiplayer games with continuous updates and micro-transactions, and decided they wanted that shit too. Everybody is trying to find the next Destiny, or the next Overwatch, or the next Splatoon, or the next Fortnite.
The problem is, even putting aside the questionable practice of micro-transaction-based multiplayer games sold for full price, these games already have their fan bases, and have little incentive to venture elsewhere. So a lot of these games that come out ultimately end in failure because they're not offering anything players couldn't get in the games they already play.
So Live-service stuff is kind of a tired fad at this point, and a lot of companies and gamers want to move on from it. But that raises another problem. As gamers have gotten sick of these online-multiplayer service games, there's been some who have demanded that companies just make single player games again, perhaps suggesting that they abandon multiplayer entirely.
Now I love single player as much as the next guy. But multiplayer I think, still has its place. Who doesn't still love playing together with four of their friends in Mario Kart at a house party on a Saturday night? Who doesn't still enjoy epic Deathmatch battles in their favorite shooter, or sparing with friends in a fighting game. I think instead of demanding developers to "Just make single player games", I think we should be demanding developers to rethink their approach to new multiplayer titles entirely. Maybe, don't build the entire game around online multiplayer exclusively. Why not offer a solid single player campaign to go with it? Maybe don't build the entire game around Microtransactions? Maybe don't go in thinking you're going to support this game forever and ever like Fortnite? Even games like Splatoon know to end the story after a couple years or so.
And more importantly, how about making a good multiplayer game... That's just a good multiplayer game before anything else, rather than thinking you're going to be the next big thing.
I think gamers still want multiplayer games, despite the cries for single player titles. We're just tired of the formula that's been fed to us for the past several years, and want something different.
Companies riding off a fad or trend in gaming is nothing new. Remember the mid-90s where publishers were tying to find the next Sonic the Hedgehog with attitude-ridden furry Mascots? Remember when everybody wanted to ride the JRPG train following Final Fantasy VII's success in the late 90s? Remember when everybody wanted to be the next Gran Theft Auto or Call of Duty with violent open world sandboxes or military First person shooters? That's what's been happening these past few years, publishers saw the success of ongoing online multiplayer games with continuous updates and micro-transactions, and decided they wanted that shit too. Everybody is trying to find the next Destiny, or the next Overwatch, or the next Splatoon, or the next Fortnite.
The problem is, even putting aside the questionable practice of micro-transaction-based multiplayer games sold for full price, these games already have their fan bases, and have little incentive to venture elsewhere. So a lot of these games that come out ultimately end in failure because they're not offering anything players couldn't get in the games they already play.
So Live-service stuff is kind of a tired fad at this point, and a lot of companies and gamers want to move on from it. But that raises another problem. As gamers have gotten sick of these online-multiplayer service games, there's been some who have demanded that companies just make single player games again, perhaps suggesting that they abandon multiplayer entirely.
Now I love single player as much as the next guy. But multiplayer I think, still has its place. Who doesn't still love playing together with four of their friends in Mario Kart at a house party on a Saturday night? Who doesn't still enjoy epic Deathmatch battles in their favorite shooter, or sparing with friends in a fighting game. I think instead of demanding developers to "Just make single player games", I think we should be demanding developers to rethink their approach to new multiplayer titles entirely. Maybe, don't build the entire game around online multiplayer exclusively. Why not offer a solid single player campaign to go with it? Maybe don't build the entire game around Microtransactions? Maybe don't go in thinking you're going to support this game forever and ever like Fortnite? Even games like Splatoon know to end the story after a couple years or so.
And more importantly, how about making a good multiplayer game... That's just a good multiplayer game before anything else, rather than thinking you're going to be the next big thing.
I think gamers still want multiplayer games, despite the cries for single player titles. We're just tired of the formula that's been fed to us for the past several years, and want something different.
