Red Dead Redemption 2 publisher says single-player gaming is not dying

[Cal Jeffrey]

The big picture: Some have suggested that single-player games are headed for a demise thanks to the quick and easy money that can be made from multiplayer games. With lower overhead and higher long-term revenues, MP games seem to be an attractive way to go. Take-Two's Strauss Zelnick disagrees.

With games like PUBG and Fortnite and the million knock-offs they have spawned, some people have questioned whether single-player story modes are on the way out in gaming. As the most lucrative title in the history of entertainment, GTA Online has set an example that studios can create IPs that can be long running money machines without the need for expensive voice actors and story writers.

However, Take-Two’s own CEO Strauss Zelnick does not agree with this view. Despite having shown how much revenue can be generated with a frequently updated MMO like GTA Online, Zelnick says that without the single-player mode in GTA V, the online aspect of the game would have never taken off.

“There are also people saying that it won’t work if it’s not a free-to-play battle royale,” Zelnick told VentureBeat in an interview. “People really are saying that, and not even tongue-in-cheek. I don’t buy that. Single-player, in my opinion, is not dead, not even close. Companies that feel like they’ll just avoid the hard work of building a story and characters and go right to where the money is in multiplayer, I don’t think that’s going to work. I’d be surprised.”

Indeed, speaking personally as a gamer, had GTA V released without a single-player campaign, I would have never played GTA Online. Zelnick reflected and reinforced this belief.

When asked if he thought players were motivated by the campaign to try multiplayer he said, “[Yeah.] I think that’s what happened with Grand Theft Auto Online. We certainly feel like there’s no evidence that people don’t want a single-player, because they’re still playing Grand Theft Auto V.”

As popular as multiplayer games are, there is a vast number of players who are primarily looking for story-telling experiences. That a game also offers multiplayer only expands the chances of picking up some of those users as long-term MP customers.

While the publisher’s upcoming Red Dead Redemption 2 will have a multiplayer mode, Zelnick made it clear that the single-player campaign was the priority. Multiplayer modes can be tweaked over time, but the single-player experience has to be flawless right out of the gate. Otherwise, the game will never sell enough units to make the online portion successful.

We’ll see if Take-Two and Rockstar can get the balance right when Red Dead Redemption releases on October 26.

Permalink to story.

https://www.techspot.com/news/75161-red-dead-redemption-2-publisher-single-player-gaming.html

 

[qking]

I prefer SP. Don't give a hoot about MP for the most part.

 

[psycros]

"As the most lucrative title in the history of entertainment, GTA Online has set an example that studios can create IPs that can be long running money machines without the need for expensive voice actors and story writers."

Is this a typo? That game isn't even in the top FIVE..in fact I don't think its even in the top ten anymore and its brief position there was widely disputed. Author needs either to do a bit more research or proofread more thoroughly.

 

[Danny101]

Many gamers are looking for an immersive experience. Single-player provides that. Multi-player generally does not. Co-op is the best of both.

 

[alabama man]

Gta online would have been fun but it's still ruined by hackers and no game site acknowledges that. It's funny how the biggest game probably ever got no **** for broken multiplayer, hackers can still ban normal players, so fun. And if you get banned you can't complain or anything, strange how no one managed to sue them yet, shouldn't be legal to punish victims of hackers with perma bans. Last time I've seen hacker in GTA 5 was a stream from 2 weeks ago, they are sponsored by rockstar and complained about hacking on multiple occasions and shown evidence but no one cares, they just give them more shark cards and tell them to make new accounts.

Not buying any of their games until they start caring about the customers, I really liked red dead but wont support shitty business practices. It will probably be just a platform to sell microtrans riddled with hackers, sounds so fun....

 

[BSim500]

"Are multiplayer battle royale games killing single-player games?"

Not really. (Hint: There's more to SP gaming than AAA). There are literally thousands of SP games on the market, whereas "battle royale" trends come and go no different to other MP's trends over the years going back to Doom / Quake / Unreal years. I used to be big into MP during the LAN party / Quake 3 era, but between cheaters, squeakers, trolls and the direction things are heading in which is soon guaranteed to p*ss off even the most ardent MP gamer, I find modern online MP one huge turn-off. "We're proud to announce only 2% rates of cheating!" + "Our new battle royale has 100 players" = so that's a statistical average of 2 cheaters per game then... Life's too short for that BS, and MP gaming (and gamers) in general take their "status" way too seriously to the extent what was once about having a laugh with a few friends has ended up like being a fly on the wall at an underfunded mental health clinic...

Recent titles played - Divinity Original Sin 1-2, Pillars of Eternity 1-2, Tyranny, Witcher 3, Don't Starve, Banished, The Talos Principle, QUBE 1-2, SOMA, Portal Stories Mel, Styx 1-2, The Witness, Thimbleweed Park, Stardew Valley, Subnautica, Frostpunk, Cuphead, Inside, etc. If EA, Ubisoft, etc, don't want my money, I'll quite happily give it to smaller more competent devs that do. (Looking forward to Cyberpunk 2077 and Talos Principle 2). Now add onto those new games, some sorely needed backlog clearing, playing some older titles I somehow missed at launch, replays of much loved golden oldies, community mods, etc, and I still have way more games than time to play them. In fact, I'm buying just as many SP titles as I used to, just zero MP titles. And not being stuck on one style of ultra-repetitive grindy gameplay for months on end also means gaming now feels more varied and there's less "genre burnout" long term.

 

[Mister_K]

No ****, however allowing co-op/multiplayer does increase games longevity. Sometimes I wish I could enjoy the adventures with my friends.

Imagine GTA-5 where you can play certain missions or all of them as each of the protagonists (total 3+Chop lel).

 

[Uncle Al]

I just don't play GTA any longer since they no longer do anything for the SP. You would think with all the specials they put on for MP they might throw us a bone every once in awhile ......

 

[Capaill]

Gta online would have been fun but it's still ruined by hackers and no game site acknowledges that. It's funny how the biggest game probably ever got no **** for broken multiplayer, hackers can still ban normal players, so fun. And if you get banned you can't complain or anything, strange how no one managed to sue them yet, shouldn't be legal to punish victims of hackers with perma bans. Last time I've seen hacker in GTA 5 was a stream from 2 weeks ago, they are sponsored by rockstar and complained about hacking on multiple occasions and shown evidence but no one cares, they just give them more shark cards and tell them to make new accounts.

Not buying any of their games until they start caring about the customers, I really liked red dead but wont support shitty business practices. It will probably be just a platform to sell microtrans riddled with hackers, sounds so fun....

Sounds like PUBG. So it seems the most successful business model is to have a multiplayer game where hacking and cheating is encouraged and any player bans result in new accounts being bought. Which makes no sense - why are players still paying money in these games?

 

[IAMTHESTIG]

Single player is certainly still a big deal for many gamers, but MP has its place. I really enjoy the more COOP focused games though like Borderlands, the only issue then is they didn't support enough players for LAN parties. If games like GTA that have multiple playable characters did COOP that would be a hoot.

MP is fun and all but not a primary for most players. It takes so much time and energy to become competitive enough to actually enjoy it. Maybe I'm just not very good at games anymore but I remember with the Battlefield games, it wasn't until I had about 3-500 hours into MP that I could compete at the top of the leader boards.

Besides, now with VR I have little interest in playing MP. I prefer to relax and explorer, taking in the environment while playing the game. Can't really relax and explorer in MP all that often unless your a lazy sniper.

 

[Cal Jeffrey]

"As the most lucrative title in the history of entertainment, GTA Online has set an example that studios can create IPs that can be long running money machines without the need for expensive voice actors and story writers."

Is this a typo? That game isn't even in the top FIVE..in fact I don't think its even in the top ten anymore and its brief position there was widely disputed. Author needs either to do a bit more research or proofread more thoroughly.

Okay here's the thing: I provided a source to my claims -- you do not. Yes, I linked to a TS article by Rob Thubron, but not before RESEARCHING to check his facts. He cited a MarketWatch article just like dozens of other news outlets that reported on this. MarketWatch got it's figures from NPD Group, a reputable market research firm that tracks these sort of things.

Now, that said, I was still a bit skeptical. Personally I would have guessed WoW would have GTA beat in terms of revenue. So I RESEARCHED that. I did find an article put out by GameWatcher claiming WoW has higher revenues than GTA. It cited GameRevolution as it's source of information. GameRevolution claimed:

"During 2016 it was estimated that World of Warcaft has earned more than $9.23 billion in revenue since its debut in November 2004. This figure eclipses even the closest competition, which include surprising entries such as the Korean FPS CrossFire at $6.8 billion, Wii Sports at $6.08 billion (packaged with hardware), and Lineage at $5.74 billion."

Now this sounds credible to me, however, GameRevolution lists zero sources for their figures or information. None. In fact, the only hard data the article provided sources for is this GameCubicle chart of Super Mario sales, and this infographic that could have been used in an article claiming GTA is the top seller rather than vise versa. In other words, it was a dead end. There were a total of three articles (that I found) disputing MarketWatch's claim about GTA and all of them listed Game Revolution as their source. I can't use that.

Now if you would like to actually cite a reputable source instead of coming on the forums and blindly accusing TS writers of not doing research, I would gladly make alterations for accuracy. I am not claiming that I or any other TS writer is perfect, but the one thing that I can say for certain is that we do research our stories. Sometimes we don't have as much time as we would like, but we do our best. And when we do mess up, we appreciate the feedback from readers, and do make corrections.

I like you psycros. You usually have very constructive comments in discussions, but your comment on my research is ad hominem and not even followed up with anything constructive.

GTA is not in the top five. Okay, well what is? and more importantly, what is your source? These are the things that lead to constructive criticism, not baseless attacks on a writer's work ethic.