110°

Should Multiplayer and Single Player Exist Separately?

pixlbit|5591d ago |Opinion piece|29|

After Peter Tamte's open letter to Bobby Kotick concerning his comment that "Bungie are ... probably the last remaining high quality independent developer," PixlBit examines the concept behind Tamte's challenge of splitting apart single and multiplayer gaming experiences and selling them to players separately.

Bobby Kotick Bungie Call of Duty: Black Ops Industry Nintendo DS PC PS3 PSP Wii Xbox 360 pixlbit.com

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r0gueZA5591d ago

Interesting view that.

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outrageous5591d ago (Edited 5591d ago )

What you will see is what is happening right now with game like Mag...nobody cares. The SP is a critical piece of the puzzle. People buy the games for the story, graphics and gameplay. Some may buy it for co-op, while others only play multi-player either alone or with friends and/or a clan. Either of the above scenarios lead you to the same conclusion...You have to cater to one to get the other. Maybe the guy is only a sp type of gamer. He gives the multi-player a shot, likes it, gets pretty good at and then maybe joins a clan and he's hooked...lol.

You can't have one without the other because you limit your target audience/demographic.

In regards to price...they will ALWAYS make an excuse for why it has to be full price...ALWAYS. If its a SP game it should be half price. GOW should of been $29.99 because it didn't have Co-op, multi-player or even DLC. Alan wake is the same thing...tho Alan Wake does have an episodic nature to the DLC, the point is the game is really only a single player experience. Halo Reach by comparison is a feature rich game that puts single player games like GOW to shame. If GOW is worth $60 then Halo Reach is worth $120.

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Imperator5591d ago

And I'm sure you'd pay $120 or in fact, any price MS told you to pay right? lol, What's with your hate on SP-only games? GOW3 was epic, and one of the best games this year. It's a AAA game worth full price. And no, Reach ain't worth that much. In fact, I'd never pay that much for any game.

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Downtown boogey5591d ago (Edited 5591d ago )

Another thing... MP is easy to build with the existing tools of the Campaign.

@ Imperator

Leave your fanboyish views out of this.

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mastiffchild5591d ago

No. You cannot quantify a moments pleasure into pounds, dollars and cents so easily. What of the cost of development? What of different genrers? It's not so simple as to list features and say "this has more it's worth more"-it just doesn't work that way and that kind of thi9nking will prevent any great single player games being made in the future. ~Reach is a good game in a great series and a series known for having MP and a lot of features. However, GOW is a different beast and in SP, and in technical terms, it's superior to Reach. SA put everything into their SPO while for Bungie it was the lesser of their worries with Reach-one of the reasons I'm no longer as big a Halo fan as I once was is the constant leaning towards a MP that was never my fave bit anyway-I prefer a lot of other shooters in terms of co-op and MP and it was the Halo universe I really liked in game but, unlike SA and GOW, that side has just taken a bit of a back seat and it would be my opinion that Reach SP< GOW3 SP by some distance.

SPO is also the most expensive part of a game to make-why do you think COD, every year, just has tweaks to the MP and reworked maps? It's because they can do it cheaply to offset the cost of SP which needs a whole lot more investment and effort-writers, more animations, cutscenes the list goes on and on and if your focus is split how can you claim to have put as much in as someone just making a SP game-or indeed if someone JUST makes a MP game.

Halo is GREAT value and you could argue that GOW isn't as great but when they sell a bit of DLC as a full game(ODST) I don't think Bungie or MS can be held up as giving great value either. GOW might be fairly adjusted in price but half price is daft when i9t's SP cost as much to make as the whole of Reach did(at a guess)and you can't ignore how much better looking it is. Just cos that wasn't as important to Reach or Halo fans doesn't mean GOW3 didn't need to be more appealing to look at, did it? I think, maybe a ten dollar cut would be right but half price is just silly and takes no notice of the extra costs of SP.

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dinkeldinkse5591d ago (Edited 5591d ago )

No, it shouldn't be. If SP games were half price, there wouldn't be SP games anymore. Just a bunch of watered down games with no story and the same multiplayer in every game.

Just imagine a gaming world with nothing, but CODs to play.

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gatormatt805591d ago

Instead of completely separating the two I think maybe they should just continue to make the single player and multiplayer together for the current MSRP, but also make just a single player game only and charge less for it, maybe charge $39.99 or $49.99

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raztad5591d ago

LMAO@"If GOW is worth $60 then Halo Reach is worth $120. "

SP>Multiplayer for me. Storytelling, voice acting + all the stuff involving a good SP campaing > maps.

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+ Show (3) more repliesLast reply 5591d ago

NYC_Gamer5591d ago

they might aswell leave out the sp mode in call of duty games

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mrv3215591d ago

There's a SP mode in COD games?

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Natsu X FairyTail5591d ago

lol

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despair5591d ago

its funny now but back when COD 1,2 and the expansions were out the single Player campaigns were very long and fleshed out with great gameplay, now its an afternoon of trial and error with a poor excuse for a story.

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DelbertGrady5591d ago

I feel the same. The scripted re-spawning enemies kill the gameplay.

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RetroSoldier5591d ago

I own all the current gen COD duty games and I enjoyed them all. On single player. I'm not a huge fan of online multi-p, but I still like to pointlessly shoot at things.

I enjoy the voice acting, I love the cenematics, its a good experience in my mind and I would likely not play the game if those things did not exist. If they got rid of SP, they would loose money. And no video game compnay likes that.

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wat6345591d ago

Bobby kotick should sell the multiplayer portion separately, besides, most of his customers are dumb. Hes smart to take advantage of them.

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A Cupcake for Gabe5591d ago

I like when the SP and MP are seamless, like in Red Dead or Borderlands. Jump in jump out fun.

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mastiffchild5591d ago

IF Borderlands HAD a proper SP I'd be with you but to me it was mere practise for the co-op wasn't it? Just like L4D, no? I couldn't in all honesty call what they have proper SP and even though I take your point about the lineless transition in B'lands et al I still don't think it matters as long as I get some frame of reference from the SP to make the MP shooty shooty relevant in some way. Give it some purpose.

Thing is I STILL say that SotC gave me as much fun and pleasure as any gamne full of MP features so how ddo we guage value?

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ddurand15591d ago

If they were sold seperately that would be fantastic. I really cant remember the last time I played through a SP campaign, unless you count demons souls.

If they sold them seperately they would entice more people to buy DLC as well. Assuming that the MP part would be 30-40$

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ForROME5591d ago

Absolutely NOT, the only thing that needs to change in the gaming industry is Bobby over at Activision needs his @$$ beat and thrown out of Activision.

BOYCOTT THEM AND THEIR IDEAS

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fuckitimout5591d ago (Edited 5591d ago )

as gamers we should always opt to give the developers more money while we gamers get less content on disc. We shouldn't be able to take our games to a friends house to enjoy a gaming session, no. Sp lol sp? To hell with sp and gamers who want a true, well thoughtout story. To hell with games being an affordable hobby and artform that true gamers supported back when games were a passion and not just a fashion. I say yes. I'd gladly pay more money to support kotick since he helps the industry and cares for us real gamers. And I looove dlc that launches with a game's release or even better when it's on the disc already but requires a small fee to be accessed. Micro transactions are yummy! :D

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neonlight455591d ago

are you being sarcastic?

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fuckitimout5591d ago

n4g has some of the dumbest people I've seen on any forums

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Prototype5591d ago

I miss the days of "good" sp games, now a lot of people are spoiled on co op online or straight multiplayer and use that as a base to buy any game today. I support companies who have sp and mp as either seamless or that's separate and fun to play either.

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Leafhopper5591d ago

The single player and multiplayer element of a game should both be worked on with equally quality from the developer.

In the last generations some games the multiplayer seemed tacked on. This generation it feels like the single player is tacked on.

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Gamer_Z5591d ago

The only game I think that should be all mp would be call of duty. I really wouldn't mind an all mp call of duty all that space they would use on sp they can use for mp for more maps, guns and game types.

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Close_Second5591d ago

...most SP campaigns seem more like extended demos since they only come in at several hours worth of gameplay. They need to be bundled with MP so consumers can feel like they're getting value for money. If you can't actually use the MP then basically you're getting screwed.

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theonlylolking5591d ago

Well if they are going to be separated then story mode better be good, long(over 20+hrs),co-op online and offline splitscreen, and worth my time.

If they are going to be separated then multiplayer better have few to no glitches or bugs, dedicated servers, and more stuff in it like maps, options, etc...

Story mode price $20 to $30

Online mulitplayer price $20

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5591d ago

AlienFodder5591d ago

I'm going through Halo Reach in Campaign mode and I'm having a blast. That game is addictive... Since I'm new to the game I felt like I really needed to play it on my own, in SP mode. That being said, the SP mode doesn't seem to be very long and I'm definitely looking forward to co-op and/or MP.

Selling both versions separately would be very impractical, IMO, even if they were being sold for half the price of a full version. Also, I would doubt very much that a publisher would only charge let's say 20$ for each mode if a game has 3 different ones like Halo Reach does. We all know it would never happen...

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50°

Kotick claims lawsuit objecting to MS-Activision deal was "tied to Embracer's desire to boost sales"

Christopher|1d 10h ago |News|6|

Former CEO describes lawsuit filed by Swedish pension fund as a "collateral attack" on Activision Blizzard.

Activision Bobby Kotick Embracer Group Game publisher Industry Person gamesindustry.biz

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OpenGL1d 7h ago

Yeah, the Microsoft deal has DEFINITELY worked out for everyone.

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galgor1d 4h ago

Can this mother fucker just get lost already

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blacktiger39m ago

Illuminati needed new news

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PRIMORDUS1d 3h ago

He belongs in here ⚰️, hopefully sooner than later.

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TheColbertinator1d ago

MrDead12h ago(Edited 12h ago)

Kotick Made $155 million from MS in the buyout, the little b*tch needs to stop whining. Thanks to this Microslop deal and massive industry consolidation thousands upon thousands of devs and other workers lost their livelihoods. This greedy piggie pervert needs shut up and f-off.

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70°

Destiny 2 Red War lawsuit ends as Bungie reaches full settlement with sci-fi author

kratsocole|61d ago |News|1|

Bungie has fully settled the Destiny 2 Red War copyright lawsuit with writer Matthew Martineau, ending a year-long legal fight.

Bungie Destiny 2 Game developer PC thegamepost.com

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Michiel198961d ago

they wanted to wrap it up in preparation for the Marathon lawsuit

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70°

Bungie addresses Destiny 2’s missing roadmap, team is focused on “immediate and long-term future”

kratsocole|72d ago |News|1|

Bungie has finally responded to players asking about Destiny 2’s long-promised roadmap, saying the team is focused on the game’s “immediate and long-term future.“

Bungie Destiny 2 Game developer PC x.com

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- Comments (1)

thesoftware73072d ago

Dan, bungie has been getting worse and worse as a company, I would have though after Sony acquired them, they would become one of the elite crew(ND, Insomniac, ect), apparently it did not right the ship.

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