The End of Single Player?

This generation has shown how big a deal multiplayer is with Call of Duty, Halo and Battlefield being consistently in the top 10 most played games. And we’ve also seen traditionally single player experiences get multiplayer added – such as Assassin’s Creed, Tomb Raider and Mass Effect.

 

With “always connected” and “open-World” being the buzz words for upcoming games on the new consoles, it certainly looks like the shift towards cooperative and competitive multiplayer only experiences is going to continue. Consoles are about to have their first real stab at massively multiplayer online games to match the experiences PC players have been having for years.

 

That said, in this past year alone we have seen strong games like Dishonored, Sleeping Dogs and The Walking Dead, flying the flag for single player, and franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Assassin’s Creed remain focussed on their main story campaigns despite adding multiplayer modes.

 

With the integration of social networking, phones and tablet computers, games may be moving towards an all-encompassing social base, but there will always be room for that cinematic, story-driven experience that you can only have in single-player.