"why are they ‘massively multiplayer’ when many players seem to prefer the solo effort?"

Because said gamers still have their options open to go on raids anytime they want. Aside that, even the loners are part of an guild and as so are, usually communicating with them, whether just to have someone to talk or to ask for tips about the game. Thankfully, play an mmo doesn't mean you always have to be in an party, it just means that you can if you so choose.

I agree with the writer on this one. I always go solo in MMO games.

I actually don't like going solo in MMOs. I play MMOs mainly for the social aspect. I WANT to play with other people! Preferably my friends... because we all know how lame PUGs are. ;)

Why? Because 3/4 of the strangers you meet in MMOs don't know how to play properly!

there has to be some level of soloing, either for farming, crafting, leveling up a weapon etc.. as well as at least 1 soloable class,

in ffxi i had a hard time with my 57 dark knight finding a party so i started a beastmaster and leveled up to 60 mostly solo but also with a party when doable

also missions are not soloable so you still have to work with a party or guild

Actually, I tend to solo myself in MMOs, I understand completely though, MMO is two M too much for solo players ;)

Depends on my mood. That's what I love about MMOs - I can choose to play solo, or play with other people.

Tell me again how the multiplatform strategy was supposed to fix everything. Look at your results and compare them to Nintendo, which keeps thriving with exclusives. Your loyal fans are gone. And let’s not forget the pile of IPs you purchased only to let them rot.

The worst thing is this is down from last years numbers/expectations which was down from the previous years numbers/expectations. You think about how long “down” has been a consistent part of the communication and you realize those subscriptions are what’s holding that boat together. The price cut of gamespass is still a price raise in a string of price raises. They are trying to use players to offset the missing revenue. Now call of duty is out of gamespass, which is literally WHY they bought the company. To draw people to the subscription. They realized they missed a boatload of money and that wasn’t sustainable. Now you pay for it like you would have if they never bought the company… so why buy the company? Mind you those billions still need to be paid back. Yeah it gives you a chance to say we make the biggest FPS… but the internal conversations must be brutal at high level on topics that really matter. Like revenue. Profitability. And ROI for the shopping spree.

Is this like the 10th quarter in a row they're down 33% on hardware how is that even mathematically possible. You would think their mediocrity would Plateau