Hot on the heals of the reveal of their four-player co-op title Fuse, Insomniac Games has officially stated that they are out of the “single-player-only” game development business, and will from here on out only work on multiplayer-only and social games.
Insomniac Games‘ CEO Ted Price made the bold statement to GameSpot, saying:
“I can’t imagine that any game we’d do from here on out will be single-player-only. The [game industry] has changed. As gamers, we have always been social, but thanks to the way technology has evolved, it’s much easier for us to play together. And it’s much easier for developers to create experiences where you can play together. So we want to encourage that with all of our games because ultimately, in my opinion, it’s often more fun to play with a friend.”
“We understand that a large portion of players are interested in that single-player experience. A lot of us gamers are interested in both. I love single-player games but I also love multiplayer games, and I think that Fuse offers you the opportunity to do both without having to skimp on either side.”
Over the last few years there has been a trend in the video game industry to try and shoehorn some type of multiplayer into every single game. For some genres and games that works fine. From what I understand of Insomniac‘s Fuse, it’s one of those games. With that said, there are just as many genres and games that work better as a single-player experience, in my opinion.
In fact, most of the recent games that I have loved the most were all single-player titles. For example; Enslaved, the inFAMOUS series, Lollipop Chainsaw, Skyrim, Batman: Arkham Asylum, the Tomb Raider Trilogy, No More Heroes, and the first Uncharted, just to name a few. I would also go so far to say that any game that has narrative or exploration as its central focus is almost always better when it at least offers a single-player-only mode.
I’m not at all against multiplayer titles, and have been known to enjoy a few, but I’m also not thrilled when I start hearing developers like Insomniac Games talk about the death of the single-player game. Some of the best titles that I have ever played have been single-player-only, and I can’t fathom how they would have been improved if someone was yelling at me through a headset while I was playing.