"Every game nowadays has multiplayer crowbarred into it," goes a popular and, as it turns out, inaccurate refrain. According to the latest Penny Arcade Report, the number of Xbox 360 and PS3 releases in the US that support either online multiplayer, local multiplayer or both has dropped sharply since 2006, or roundabouts the birth of the current hardware generation. "You can see that in 2006, one year into the release of the Xbox 360 and the launch year of the PlayStation 3, 67% of the games had online multiplayer, 58% had offline multiplayer and 28% had no multiplayer," commented Geoffrey Zatkin, EEDAR CEO. "By 2012, you can see that only 42% have online multiplayer, a drop of 25%, 44% have offline multiplayer, a drop of 14%, and 41% have no multiplayer, a rise of 16%. So, over time, fewer and fewer high definition console games are including multiplayer as part of their core offering."
Apparently, the seeming ubiquity of multiplayer stems from the success of a few, particularly well-executed franchises like Call of Duty and Halo; implement online badly or even unremarkably, and you're effectively paying to dampen down critical enthusiasm. Zatkin himself opines that "not every feature belongs in every game. Including multiplayer for the sake of having multiplayer doesn't make sense.
"Multiplayer should be included because it makes the game better," he told the site. "I don't know that BioShock 1 or the upcoming BioShock: Infinite would be a better game for the inclusion of multiplayer. Or Batman Arkham Asylum & City, Dragon Age I & II, God of War 3, Skyrim, Heavy Rain or Fallout 3. Or Braid. Or Limbo. There are a lot of great games whose core experience didn't include multiplayer."
In general, Zatkin reckons ticking boxes based on some received commercial formula for success is a fine way to dilute your strengths. "I don't think any single feature makes every game more fun; putting in a 'little bit of everything' often means that your game doesn't shine in any single area. A game that gives you a great experience is what you want; if the great experience involves multiplayer, fantastic. If it doesn't - well, that can be fantastic as well."
What do you think? My take is that offline play will vanish next gen, as the notion of a shared experience slowly overrides the traditional division between single and multiplayer.
Source: OXM
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[h=3]References[/h]
Thanks to: Rheena.com
Apparently, the seeming ubiquity of multiplayer stems from the success of a few, particularly well-executed franchises like Call of Duty and Halo; implement online badly or even unremarkably, and you're effectively paying to dampen down critical enthusiasm. Zatkin himself opines that "not every feature belongs in every game. Including multiplayer for the sake of having multiplayer doesn't make sense.
"Multiplayer should be included because it makes the game better," he told the site. "I don't know that BioShock 1 or the upcoming BioShock: Infinite would be a better game for the inclusion of multiplayer. Or Batman Arkham Asylum & City, Dragon Age I & II, God of War 3, Skyrim, Heavy Rain or Fallout 3. Or Braid. Or Limbo. There are a lot of great games whose core experience didn't include multiplayer."
In general, Zatkin reckons ticking boxes based on some received commercial formula for success is a fine way to dilute your strengths. "I don't think any single feature makes every game more fun; putting in a 'little bit of everything' often means that your game doesn't shine in any single area. A game that gives you a great experience is what you want; if the great experience involves multiplayer, fantastic. If it doesn't - well, that can be fantastic as well."
What do you think? My take is that offline play will vanish next gen, as the notion of a shared experience slowly overrides the traditional division between single and multiplayer.
Source: OXM
Join Our Facebook Group For All The Latest News[SUP][1][/SUP][SUP][2][/SUP]
[h=3]References[/h]
- [SUP]^[/SUP] Source: OXM (www.oxm.co.uk)
- [SUP]^[/SUP] Join Our Facebook Group For All The Latest News (www.facebook.com)
Thanks to: Rheena.com
