The Multiplayer Gamble

[dropcap]T[/dropcap]he shift towards multiplayer began with the rise of the first person shooter genre in the mid-to-late 2000s, when games such as Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 launched, featuring robust multiplayer components to complement their single player offerings. The multiplayer offered an enjoyable side activity for people to engage in once they’d completed the main single player campaign, which the development studios had pumped the majority of their time and resources into. However, for these titles, whose releases coincided with the arrival of universal online services on home consoles, the multiplayer aspect proved highly popular and provided the titles with added staying power. The success of these early titles convinced many developers to focus on the multiplayer aspects of their games in an attempt to replicate this success.

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Fast forward to today, and we see an ecosystem dominated by multiplayer. For titles such as Call of Duty, the focus and appeal has moved away from the single player towards the multiplayer, and title such as Evolve, Payday and Destiny have launched essentially devoid of single player content. Many of these titles have proved highly successful, and it is clear that ‘multiplayer’, in an online digital world, is here to stay.

For titles such as Call of Duty, the focus and appeal has moved away from the single player towards the multiplayer, and title such as Evolve, Payday and Destiny have launched essentially devoid of single player content

However, titles such as Evolve also serve to highlight a key problem with the decision some developers take in choosing a multiplayer-only focus for their game; the core gameplay loop. While a single player story has the ability to offer a strong and engaging narrative with which to hook the player, multiplayer games often lack this feature. Instead they are forced to lean more heavily on their core gameplay loop in order to keep the player engaged. This leads to games like Evolve suffering because they centre on a simple and repetitive loop that players tire of quickly, and with a lack of regular, free content to sustain them, they essentially die.

Destiny is a game devoid of single player

A focus on multiplayer can also harm games in that they create a barrier to entry that doesn’t exist in quite the same way with single player games. In a typically personal medium it is unreasonable to expect any individual to be able to call upon four or more friends at any one time in order to fully experience these games in the manner which the developers intend it. The latest incarnation in the Rainbow Six series risks suffering from this, having shifted focus from single player to online, squad based gameplay. While these games often demo well at press events, where players are sat in close proximity to one another with effective means of communication, this is unlikely to be the reality when these games launch, where many will be forced into a position of playing alone, with strangers or with only one or two available friends. Thus multiplayer games often inadvertently harm themselves by creating arbitrary and frustrating barriers to entry that limit the enjoyment of the player.

The Last of Us is a single player only game that has thrived

In contrast to this, single player titles suffer from none of these problems. With greater control over player agency, developers have the power to more carefully craft the narrative and gameplay experience, and with only a single individual to focus on, greater identity and individuality can be lent to the creation of characters. Games like The Last of Us and Bioshock have thrived both critically and commercially in this space, and whilst they both exhibit their own flaws, they succeed in more ways than they fail, oftentimes warranting multiple playthroughs that give them the long legs that many developers so desperately seek from their games.

if developers continue to pursue multiplayer games alone as their core focus, then they risk alienating their core audience, as well as creating a game that lacks both artistic and creative merit

Multiplayer games certainly hold an important place within the industry, and with the prevalence of online services they are unlikely to go away. However, if developers continue to pursue multiplayer games alone as their core focus, then they risk alienating their core audience, as well as creating a game that lacks both artistic and creative merit. The creation of a multiplayer game is a precise science, one that many developers fail to master, yet the pursuit of sales and pressure from publishers pushes them on with disastrous results. Often these studios would benefit from doubling down on single player content in order to create a more focused experience, rather than dividing their resources. Ultimately, when a developer is contemplating a multiplayer focus for their game, it is worth considering this. A failed single player game, while being flawed, may live on; but a failed multiplayer game is dead forever.

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