Single player market is "still significant," says Ubisoft dev
- Posted May 30th, 2008 at 11:53 EDT by Mike Harradence
- 2,023 views
- 21 Comments
Ubisoft’s Ben Mattes has said that single player games allow developers to create unique experiences for the player that aren’t achievable in more multiplayer-orientated games.
The Prince of Persia producer was responding to comments from Phil Harrison, who suggested that unconnected single player titles are likely to be replaced in favour of community-heavy multiplayer experiences to accommodate the direction the industry is currently taking.
“I read that, and I don’t totally agree,” he told Eurogamer. “I know where he’s coming from - I certainly see a lot of the industry moving in the direction of more community, more multiplayer, that sort of stuff.”
“But in my opinion, there are things you can do in a carefully crafted single-player game - experiences you can create, emotions you can elicit and magnitudes of engaging the player - that you’re not going to reproduce in the uncontrolled environment of multiplayer.”
Mattes stated his belief that the single player market is still significant enough to warrant interest, noting some consumers favour a solo experience over multiplayer-heavy titles, going as far to say that some don't want to be "distracted" by elements of the later.
“For some time yet, there’s going to be a market of people who say, ‘You know what, pander to me,” added Mattes.
“Suck me into your world and just make me believe. I don’t want to be distracted by griefers and high scores, and dealing with the stuff not everybody loves about multiplayer games.’ I do think there is still a significant market there."
Comments
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evilmonkey501 |
evilmonkey501- 11:57am BST - May 30th, 2008
- 1
Thank god not every publisher is taking the "we dont want to make singleplayer games anymore" standpoint....like atari....I ,for one, dont even care for much of the multiplayer bs.
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stovich |
TasteLikeBurning- 12:14pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 2
Its about time someone addressed this issue. I experimented online with R:FoM and although it was fun for the first hour or so, I grew tired of the experience. I just don't see how people can spend days on end online. Either way, it's not for me and I'm glad someone is speaking for the SP guy.
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DreamsofAnarchy |
DreamsofAnarchy- 12:26pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 3
Simple as this games like Dark Sector and Army of Two needed to stay single player. I feel they try and add some sort of multiplayer to cash in on the DLC craze. It seems that the only popular multiplayer games are FPS and i'm sick of it. Developers need to think outside the box though and attempt to bring a single player experience to a multiplayer generation if they really wanna make the loot.
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mikeghtmare |
mikeghtmare- 12:33pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 4
like you guys said, thank god not all developers are moving to multiplayer online games; they can be fun but it should not replace single-player mode, it should complement it.
YOu also have to look at the game you are making, you shouldn't impose a multiplayer experience if it doesn't make sense for the game. Good to see he knows that. -
Solrac |
Solrac7688- 1:10pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 5
i totally agree there has been maybe a handful of single player experiences not everybody likes Multiplayer , I for one like both but still waiting for a great single player game and with MGS4 coming out but aside from that i want to be immersed into a single player world like i was when Uncharted came out
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Staticneuron |
Staticneuron- 2:28pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 6
"“For some time yet, there’s going to be a market of people who say, ‘You know what, pander to me,” added Mattes.
“Suck me into your world and just make me believe. I don’t want to be distracted by griefers and high scores, and dealing with the stuff not everybody loves about multiplayer games.’ I do think there is still a significant market there.""Thank you! As long as there still a dev with sanity I can be happy to e a gamer.
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NitroMikeo
- 3:39pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 8
IF Uncharted was only online, or they had made the multiplayer side first, the game would be poor. Uncharted being one of the best PS3 Exclusives out there.
My point being tht single player isnt just gonna dissapear. Take oblivion for example. :)
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Alti |
Alti- 4:28pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 9
I agree. I'm kind of sick of multiplayer, but i can't deny that it entices my buy. I mean, there's getting it before everyone is amazing at it, and then there's the replayability or play length. If it has good multiplayer, you won't need a new game for a long long time. It's just more bang for your buck.
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Alpha2
- 8:14pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 11
This man is SO right that there's not even a term you can use in english to discribe it. I swear companies need to keep this in mind, yeah you can go ahead and make your multiplayer titles but for god's sake dont destroy single player just because you want to avoid comming up with a decent story.
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Dave-The-Rave |
Dave-The-Rave- 9:46pm BST - May 30th, 2008
- 12
We don't need a dev to tell us about this..singleplayer storys are better than ANY multiplayer anyday !!
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lurkingshadow89 |
DEATH555666- 3:04am BST - May 31st, 2008
- 16
I TOTALLY AGREE SOME OF MY FAVORIT MULTI PLAYER GAMES HAVE I STORY LINE. LIKE F.E.A.R. The all time best PC first person shooter. It takes halo out back wasted and tea bags it in the face.
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jphuff |
jhuff- 5:45am BST - May 31st, 2008
- 17
Yes! Keep that single player going! I also tend to like co-op while sticking to the single player storyline better than online MP at times. MP has it's place and is great. But I think there's definitely been TOO much focus in that area and frankly, I think it's hurt the progress of "games as art" in storytelling, etc, as the devs have to focus a lot of efforts on MP. Sometimes even just ensuring the game is of a type that will lend itself to MP. Developers: Don't artificially shackle yourselves and your game just to be able to check that feature line on the back of the box!
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SolsticeZero |
SolsticeZero- 11:30pm BST - May 31st, 2008
- 19
I'm really glad they feel this way. I see nothing wrong with a good in-depth single player experience. I mean, sometimes it's a lot harder to tell a good story with multiplayer.
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InfernoReaper |
GrimDarkling- 2:08am BST - June 1st, 2008
- 20
I'm proud to be part of that single-player market. The only game I play online regularly is Halo 3.
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Untildeath89 |
willmakenewonesoon- 2:59am BST - June 1st, 2008
- 21
Single player games should be at least 20 hours and they should have pretty good story and gameplay, now days lots of single player games deliver in some places and forget others. MP games can have good online and suck at the rest, but thats not the case with single player games. If its not close to perfect the whole thing falls from eachother and you go from goty to waste of time.
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