PixlBit

Congratulations on your new addition.

Joke is on EA after we've just had Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein, Mario Odyssey, South Park, Assassin's Creed, and Divinity: OS2 drop. Where is the death?

exactly, thats why i thought the press release read really weird.

Here's the question though, how many of those made money? I know TEW2 didn't. Wolfenstein is a maybe. AC and Mario are huge brands so they will. And South Park and Divinity have lower production costs so they probably will. So while I doubt single player games are going anywhere, I do think we'll see a change in how they get made. 

1 out of 6 is good odds. And those are only the games I came up with off the top of my head. I don't see EA as having any kind of authority to speak on the health of the market, guilty of mismanagement as they are. And how many mutliplayer games have failed? Lots.

I'm not knocking the concept of single player games, I just think that we're going to see development of them change. Scale back a little in terms of cinematics and graphics while pushing in other areas. I think it'll be good, may force some innovation.

I agree. I think scale has outpaced substance in a lot of games. The desire to give people their "money's worth" in terms of time per dollar has superceded most other concerns.

I think the Beastcast took a stance that is in line with my thoughts. It's worrysome that companies like EA seem to be losing faith in single player, linear games, but this has been a HUGE year for those types of games. Horizon, Zelda, Nier, Nioh, Persona 5, South Park, Shadow of War, Mario, and Assassin's Creed just to name a few. 

I have some complex thoughts about The Mummy Demastered that I want to talk about on NWP. I like the game, but I feel like it's balanced badly. 

Congratulations on the kiddo. I think they are evil demon creatures, but people seem to like them. 

I think that WayForward is similar to Platinum.  They do fantastic work on the stuff they own, but in order to make those games they do licensed stuff that is not up to snuff.

I was probably half-asleep while I was listening to last weeks Beastcast...  unless they talked about it this week.  Ever since I went into the hospital last week all my days have been a blur.

Don't forget about the Bethesda published games, Evil Within, Wolfenstein, Prey, Death of the Outsider....  all single player focused.

Part of the reason that EA pushes this narrative is that they want all of their games to be services that people pay for on an ongoing basis, and whose use EA can control (this is the same company that tried disabling games you bought based on you getting banned from EA's forums!). They want to have perpetual revenue streams through DLC and microtransactions, but not every game is going to be a Call of Duty or a Clash of Clans. Most online-focused games are pretty barren a couple of weeks after release with the exceptions of a handful of eternally popular franchises such as Call of Duty, Halo, or Blizzard's games.

That's a bingo!

Congrats on your new baby! 

On the single player thing...But I've also heard older game journos talk about how 'death of single player talk' has happened before and it never really happened. There are plenty of single player games out that are super awesome, a lot from Japan, but they are still there. I don't know. I hope it's just noise. I also want to play that Multiplayer Metal Gear game so I'm one of the bad ones.

It's also like how just prior to the PS4 and Xbox One launch, it was all  "CONSOLE GAMING IS DEAD."   Then the PS4 went on the sell gangbusters and console gaming is not dead.

or how many times have they said Nintendo was dead? Like every recent console it seems and look at them now.

Nintendo: Doomed since 1889.

To be fair,  console marekt health is dependent on software sales, not hardware. Software to hardware attach rate matters. And PS4 alone selling does not speak to overall console market health. Either way, only when console gaming is actually dead in the water can it proclaimed to be dead. Something that is not dead is either in a stage of decline, incline, or maintenance.

These big companies only acknowledge their huge cash cows. They want that one game that'll bring in all the dough, and it's usually the multiplayer games. Add in some loot chests or other hidden costs and they can really clean up. I think it's crazy the way these companies try and make that one game, ala WoW or GTA, that can make all their money for them. It's chasing the improbable. I wonder how they stay in business with that kind of limited attitude. It baffles me. 

In some ways I wonder how they are able to make any money period.  Development costs have risen, yet the price of a game has stayed the same.
Maybe they should start to think about raising the base price of a game...  or at least thinking about tiering out genres maybe.  Games as services could easily start at a higher intial price point.

I'd be fine with shorter games. I'd pay the same for a quality game even if it was shorter. 

There are two reasons EA stays in business: the NFL and FIFA allowing EA to hold a monopoly on their licenses. The NBA, NHL, and MLB all allow competition between developers, and I wish FIFA and NFL would do the same.

I just heard the description of the reason for Viceral being canned and the Star Wars single player game being put off 'til probably never. Games as a service does not appeal to me much. I guess I'll be playing more retro stuff than ever. I'm fine with that. Lots I haven't finished there. 

Congrats on your little one! 

Single player games I don't think are out the door. A lot of studios are doing great with them. EA however is sinking because of all the shitty crap they pull and they rather blame it on something else then take responsibility. This year has been a great year for single player stuff, I've enjoyed several titles that had little to no multiplayer.

Congrats!  I'm playing lots of single player games right now.  

Congrats on the baby

Personally, I think we're going to see a difference in what kind of single player games get made. Last gen games like Mass Effect and Uncharted cost a ton, but they weren't made to profit off of units sold, they were made to push hardware. Hence why Bioware is struggling under EA while Naughty Dog is thriving under Sony. EA has no hardware to push, thus every single player game must be profitable. Ironically open world games were a decent single player fix since having a big area cost less than a ton of cutscenes and tight level design. Not to mention they were made to be sold on PS3/360/sometimes Wii U as well. 

I think the single player games we will get will be more mid tier like Styx Shards of Darkness/Life is Strange or if AAA, have a much smaller focus on cutscenes and voice acting like Bloodborne. Which, honestly, I'm okay with.  Sony does a good job with cinematic games and have talented people making them and I'd rather have gameplay be the focus for most games.

i am gameplay all the way.  story is good and all, but give me something that feels good to play and i am happy.  

that is what i miss most about the older generations.  you had enough limitations that you had to focus in good gameplay.

Congratulations on the new baby!

Visceral Games is just the latest in EA's graveyard. I hate what EA does to the industry. Origin is gone. Maxis is gone. Bullfrog is gone. I have no doubt that we'll be reading about Bioware's closure at some point, maybe not now.

Sadly, there are two reasons why EA gets away with this crap without going bankrupt: the NFL and FIFA. A stream of guaranteed Madden dollars and FIFA euros keep EA afloat, and they seem to think that every property they have can be turned into a perpetual cash cow. They honestly seem to be trying the mobile microtransaction-based "pay to win" model on console gaming. I wish the NFL and FIFA would open their licenses to other publishers, because that would really break EA's stranglehold on the industry. "EA Sports" isn't even a big brand anymore because other companies made better NBA and MLB games and pushed EA out of those markets. Yet they are allowed to continue to hold a monopoly on both kinds of football. Sigh.

Congrats on the baby! Babies are great. Sleep deprivation isn't but you gotta take the good with the bad lol. As for Visceral Games closing, while it is definitely sad...they made only two really good games, Dead Space 1 and 2 (was Extraction them as well? I liked Extraction a lot). So while closing them now, now that they were returning to a style of game they've done well before (linear single player action) and they had Amy Hennig to help with the story, it seemed premature. Maybe not a bad decision in the grand scheme of things but certainly a bad time for it.

Congrats on the baby! Good luck with the little one and I hope you get some decent sleep. The first few months are fun and scary and tiring all at the same time.

Ingrid is a great name!  Congratulations!!!!

Hot damn, congrats to you and Mrs! I think you can squeeze in some Destiny while the baby is up at random times in the night 

As for single player, I think this is complete BS by EA. EA probably sees more $$$$ when it comes to loot boxes, added DLC, and other ways to squeeze cash out of their multiplayer universe. Single player is still a solid option in the gaming world. If EA just wants the cash, be up front about it. 

Well, I fucking hope I don't have to make friends. 

Congrats on the little one.