EA Done With Single Player Games?

Is it lights-out for the exclusively single-player video game? In Develop’s recent interview with Frank Gibeau, EA Games label president, he states that the old business model of “25-hours-and your out” is finished.

Gibeau does make it clear in the interview however, that EA is not simply demanding that all of its studios incorporate online play, stating, “So I don’t go up to every game team and ask – what is your deathmatch mode? [laughs] I look at how to make games a broader idea with online services.”

When Develop asked, “What if the Visceral team told you that multiplayer isn’t something that should be added to Dead Space?” he again made it clear that EA is not forcing its studios to add multiplayer but suggests that they incorporate some method of being connected online, with multiplayer being only one possibility.

Throughout the interview, Gibeau defends its relationships with developer’s rights to incorporate the elements they see fit and offers that, “Game makers, the really good ones, they want to make great games but they also want to make blockbusters. One of the things they need to do is balance that out – I have the right team to help them. I volunteer you to speak to EA’s studio heads; they’ll tell you the same thing. They’re very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay – be it co-operative or multiplayer or online services.”

This news is quite a disappointment for those who still enjoy sitting down with a single-player game and making an evening or seven of it. I imagine more will be clamoring for an opportunity to ask a company like Bethesda, the company behind Fallout, these same questions and hear their approach to online functionality and single-player video games.

You can find the entire interview here.

[Source: Develop]