Blizzard Says Single-Player Games are Endangered Species

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back_by_demand

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You can swipe away piracy by only releasing games via Steam, then the issue of it being single player is not the issue, this idiot just wants to line Blizzards pocket with another subscription MMO
 

Kami3k

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[citation][nom]mortsmi7[/nom]So to sum up this article... The less money you have, the more likely your company will be to innovate because you can't afford to fail. But somehow less risk in involved. Indies will be the new AAA makers.I think Blizzard could learn a few things about innovation from IBM and Intel. Blizzard no longer wishes to move forward. They should sell themselves off to EA.[/citation]

Blizzard already did merge with a company that is worst then EA.

At least EA makes more then 1-2 games a year and doesn't have 80% of it's studios dedicated to just one of them.
 

Kami3k

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[citation][nom]XZaapryca[/nom]Don't like MMO's or WoW? That's fine. Doesn't take skill? You haven't a clue. I often take one of my geared toons into an older dungeon with people that are roughly around the same level as me, but are clearly far more casual. They do nothing right, QQ a ton and I laugh my ass off at how inept they are. Quite entertaining. However, I do agree that MoP dumbed down the game even further. Story and game play are lacking in all the current FPS's I've tried. Hope Doom4 and/or HL3(PLEASE?) will revive the genre.[/citation]

It's a fact WoW is easy. The fact you have stories of people getting to those dungeons, instead of the game being hard for them early in the game, proves that.

Funny when your own example is actually against you and you don't realize it.
 

d_kuhn

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The Tom's headline is poorly chosen and I was ready to laugh off the article... but in fact Blizzard makes some solid points that the AAA sp market (not the WHOLE sp market) is at risk. I certainly hope Blizzard is wrong... multiplayer games are not the equal to well crafted sp games in MANY ways. I think we're more likely to see changes to sp games to increase revenue from rentals and make pirating more unpalateable.
 
[citation][nom]back_by_demand[/nom]You can swipe away piracy by only releasing games via Steam, then the issue of it being single player is not the issue, this idiot just wants to line Blizzards pocket with another subscription MMO[/citation]
What ?? -- Steam games are pirated within hours of release in the first time zone the game is released in - the only thing steams DRM is effective for and the reason companies pay to use it is defeating the used sales by registering the serial to the first user which keeps those that do not want to pirate it having to purchase it new instead of buying a used game which keeps the manufacturer making sales long after release (those that are pirating it are not effected by the DRM since it is cracked within hours of release if not before) - so not sure where you get the idea that releasing purely on Steam would stop piracy !
 

sykozis

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[citation][nom]mortsmi7[/nom]So to sum up this article... The less money you have, the more likely your company will be to innovate because you can't afford to fail. But somehow less risk in involved. Indies will be the new AAA makers.I think Blizzard could learn a few things about innovation from IBM and Intel. Blizzard no longer wishes to move forward. They should sell themselves off to EA.[/citation]
Blizzard is owned by Vivendi
 

Azimuth01

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If a game is good AND not intrusive to the user, people will buy it. Single player or otherwise.

If the game is good BUT it puts non performance related requirements on the user, then it gets pirated.

It's not rocket science. People don't like to be controlled. The more restrictive the games are, the more the games get pirated. The more the games get pirated the more restrictive the publishers make the games. It's a vicious circle, and anyone with half a brain knows the pirates won't be the first to break the chain.

There's only 2 choices for the publishers....step up and innovate or give up and die.
Glad to see Blizzard is still a stand up company. /sarcasm
 

vittau

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I might as well stop playing games if that's the case. I play games mostly because they add something to me, be it in the form of a good and memorable story, plot, or characters.

I have never seen a single multi-player focused game excelling in any of these categories.
 

jneutzejr

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The one thing about wow is the constant flow of new content, and the tech support. Is it worth the subscription fee? That would depent on the individual. The problem I have with wow, is that you still have to pay a "retail" price for the client and main line expansions.As far as single player games on the decline, I can see that. Almost all games are sold with the requirement a social network client like steam or origin. Piracy is an issue, but most people that are actually going to play a game to it fullest will still by the full version even if they did download a pirated version. What I can't see is buying a game for $60.00, playing if for a week and then being done with it forever. That happened when I bought Need for Speed: the Run. I finished it in weeks worth of casually playing it. Haven't touched it since. But games like Skyrim are well worth the money and continue to deliver an epic gaming expierience long after they have been released. These games are far and few though. WOW is popular only because of the constant flow of new content (in between expansions) and the online social environment. It is diverse for both casual players and those that are obsessed. Single player games are on the decline not because of lack of social interaction, but because in most of them, players ether get bored with them, or consume the content very fast and they just are not worth the retail price.
 

ttg_Avenged

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No no and no. Single player is more than alive and striving on PC. (Ironic.. was playing Skyrim literary 2 minutes ago.)

It's because of two factors that single player is "dieing".

1. Too many little kids play games, particularly Xbox/PS3, and they have the attention span of a fly, so they have no "time" to play SP. So the developers drop the bomb on smaller SPs.

2. Let's face it, single players and FPS's are a little, difficult to make. the story line always seems to get a little bland, and it is too much work for developers these days.. they would rather develop quick and easy small-ass maps (COUGH CoD COUGH) and charge arms n legs for 2-4 maps.
 
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Torchlight 2. Single Player, Lan play and Online Play. Better than Diablo III by a wide margin. $20. Need I say more.
 

onebrokendownhorse

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What crap! Free to play is nothing but a cash grab. If you want to win in the game and not be pounded on you have to buy items. In one game some players were paying up to $50 or more an hour. No way will I play such a game again. Some people, like me, like to win and these games do not provide that option. It will be a bad day if this happens but maybe small gaming companies will understand and get in the market because of these arrogant boffins.
 

drwho1

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I don't really care for multi player games, so if there aren't any GOOD single player games, I will turn back in time and grab my single player games that I already own and play them again.
 

Ragnar-Kon

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I think Blizzard is correct. But then again I don't like single player games, never have, probably never will.

Anyway, in all seriousness... I think RPGs have a long single-player future, but that's about it. Do RPGs have a long future with me? Hell no.
 

onebrokendownhorse

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I have to disagree with this comment, “Single player games are on the decline not because of lack of social interaction, but because in most of them, players ether get bored with them, or consume the content very fast and they just are not worth the retail price.”

I still play many of my single player games so do my friends. Civ is up to 120 hours, Fallout universe is more then 250 hours, S.T.A.L.K.E.R. - Shadow of Chernobyl is the same and the list goes on. The only time a game fails is if it is bad game, something like Robin Hood: The Legend of Sherwood, or lastly a game that misinterpret it's self as an FPS and is not - like Rage.

If they are well thought out games single players, if they are interested in the game, are loyal fans to the series. Most do not want to play online and will not buy a game if it is.
 
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I hate WoWers fanatical dedication to this game to the point where they play other games only to go back because it doesn't "play like WoW". I swear...Blizzard should be classified as a cult.
 

magnetite

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Great. Another corporate executive trying to change the industry with his "vision" of where things should go. Executives aren't the only ones with ideas these days. Why not let their employees have any input on the future of gaming ideas?
 

mesab66

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So sad on so many levels to hear Blizzard be so defeatist and talk this way and it is so obvious they wouldn't be saying this without WoW and SC2 MP.
I don't mind a little SC2 MP now and again, but let's be clear, there is an infinitely greater challenge and reward in playing a good single player game. It would be Blizzard's demise to forget this.

 

Burodsx

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Big game companies think DRM and meeting deadlines is the way to make a profitable game. Well, hate to tell you but a game consisting completely of square blocks with the graphics of an Atari system sold over 4 million copies while it was in BETA testing...Minecraft... So people actually played/tested the game, for free, and still decided to purchase it.
 

thecolorblue

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hmm.... what possible motivation would Blizzard have for making such a statement?
It couldn't be that there's a PR motivation behind this statement could it?

Blizzard is releasing worse crap with each successive passing year as corporate greed blinds them to the reality that milking maximum profits out of customers is NOT compatible with fun... the Diablo 3 abortion that was released this year is a testament to that.

Blizzard is sinking its own ship.
 

XZaapryca

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[citation][nom]Kami3k[/nom]It's a fact WoW is easy. The fact you have stories of people getting to those dungeons, instead of the game being hard for them early in the game, proves that.Funny when your own example is actually against you and you don't realize it.[/citation]
Normals vs Heroics. You've obviously never played WoW. It's funny when your comment about my example demonstrates how little you know about the subject. lol
 
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