EA Games President: Single-Player Games Are So Over

REUTERS

Put down that controller: EA Games President Frank Gibeau says that the era of going it solo is a thing of the past. In a candid interview with Develop, Gibeau recounted how he plans to revamp the company which has lost money for 12 successive quarters since 2007. Part of the plan means getting rid of those single-player campaigns and focusing on the multiplayer game online.

“I volunteer you to speak to EA’s studio heads; they’ll tell you the same thing,” he said. “They’re very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay – be it co-operative or multiplayer or online services – as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you’re out. I think that model is finished.” (More on Time.com: “Rock Band Reloaded” Creators On Making Mobile Music)

It’s not like EA Games has exactly been up to date with the times. Even Gibeau admitted they were wearing of M-rated content, pointing out Dead Space, but he says he says now they are all about giving studios as much creative license as they want (which probably means EA’s realized that blood, guts and exploding heads sells) and focusing on delivery content models (which means more online play). The president also talked about the company’s decision to allow studios to rename themselves, instead of using the typical EA (location name). Instead of EA Redwood Shores it’s Visceral, and EA Los Angeles became Danger Shore. Gibeau mentioned he thinks it “change[s] the dynamic of the studio,” and when you’re in the business of being cool, changing your name can make a huge difference. We’re still sad about the death of the single-player game, however. Does that mean that in order to play video games we’re all going to have to go out and make friends now?

More on TIME.com:

Review: “Rock Band Reloaded” Lets You Play Anywhere. But Is That A Good Thing?

Dragon Age 2 Casts Its Spell on March 8, 2011, New Trailer

EA Bringing RISK to iPhone

Rorschach

Pshaw I say. Pshaw!
steveboski

I couldn’t disagree more. When studios make quality games (think Uncharted 1 and 2), people will actually want to play the campaign modes. Games like Fallout come to mind as well that have no multiplayer mode at all that are still great games. Quit pumping out the same crap every year and focus on quality story telling and I think your sales problem might improve.
http://www.124monkeys.com Sean DeCoursey forgot his password

so he’s saying the mass effect series, consistently rated the best game(s) on the xbox360 regardless of genre, are bad and dead? This would also kill off GTA and Red Dead Redemption, Bioshock, 90% of movie and comic licenses etc. what a bunch of hyperbolic junk.
http://artbyderrick.com artbyderrick

I agree, it’s about the quality of the gameplay, story, characters, etc. that make a game, not whether it’s single, co-op or multiplayer. That’s the reason I only borrow the COD series and not buy it, the single player is only about 7 hours long and I don’t play online. Co-Op is fun, but I like the option of playing alone ala Resident Evil 5.

I just hope they don’t screw up their good single player games, especially the amazing Dead Space series.
grekken

Why has EA lost money 7 years running? I give you exhibit A:

“And when you’re in the business of being cool, changing your name can make a huge difference.”

With tools like this in charge, it’s no wonder EA is in trouble. How about being in the business of making great games? How about understanding that 99.9% of RPG’s are single player games. Guess that entire genre is dead now.

Guess they screwed up buying Bioware then.
cleverlyclueless

Hire some decent writers on fulltime you bastard instead of wasting more money some that I can see Kobe sweat in the next NBA game. Then maybe we will have more quality games like Portal and Half-life and all of the other games mentioned above and less useless online crap.

If they kill Bioware I might lose it.
http://popcornmusings.wordpress.com popcornmusings

Hold your horses people… did we read the same interview? He doesn’t say that single-player is finished, he’s saying that every game should have some online aspect to it. That could be a deathmatch or co-op mode, but he clearly says there are other possibilities too.

From a business model standpoint, it makes sense. I don’t know if the margins are better for content sold through XBL or PSN versus big-box retailers, but going that route makes games better for me. If my friends are playing online, I’m going to be more likely to get that game and enjoy it more. I’m all for DLC too – it’s a good way to get more out of your game without being that expensive. It allows developers to gain a second stream of revenue and more importantly incents them to make their games better so that you want to buy that additional content. I’m pretty sure the CoD and Halo map packs have earned their respective developers a nice chunk of change, and the more companies that want to create games that good so they can sell that content, the better.

That also helps solve the problem of the used game market, as it would allow developers to earn more money to make better games off of the people who buy games used. I burn through games, which is why I borrow/buy used/wait untiil price-drops, and I’m fine with that model. Red Dead Redemption zombies, RE5 extra levels, and additional game modes are all things I’m happy to see.

Happier studios, more game content, and a more social gaming experience are things we should be cheering, not jeering.