Single Player FTW

A recent study reported that most gamers prefer single-player! Take
that, multiplayer nerds! ;-)

Of course, the reality is that, if you look into the study, the
single-player advantage is minimal; it's along the lines of 53% to 47%
in favor of single-player. And the breakdown is predictible; the old
fogies like the single-player, whilst the brats go for the online
stuff. Honestly, the study doesn't really tell us anything that we
didn't already know.

Still, for years publishers parroted the line that multiplayer was the
only way to profitablity, and strictly single-player games (or even
single-player modes) were often given short-shrift. There have been
numerous reports of attempts by developers to push forward
single-player games that have been shot down by publishers, who told
the devs that single-player games 'just don't sell'.  And why not?
Multiplayer games sold tremendously well, and you could attach all
sorts of live-service features onto the games to rake in even more
money

   [that the audience of the games trended younger, less sophisticated
    and less discriminating probably didn't hurt either]

But what this study shows is that there is a huge market --over half
the gaming population-- that has a clear preference for single-player
experiences. There's also a lot of proof that single-player games _do_
sell (see "Wukung" or "Baldurs Gate 3" for recent examples), and an
equal number of examples of high-profile multiplayer games _not_
selling (see "Concord", for instance). The deciding factor isn't
multiplayer versus single-player; it's whether the game is good or
not. Good games sell, bad ones don't.

So hopefully this study will encourage developers and publishers to
put more resources into strong, quality single-player experiences
without trying to insert unnecessary online activities into them.
There's an obvious and under-served market for that sort of game, and
too often it's titles like "Diablo 4", "Destiny" or "Call of Duty"
that get all the attention. Which, if you like those sort of games,
it's great that they exist. But maybe EA/Ubisoft/etc. can put some of
their billions toward creating new single-player IPs too?