Since the days of Unreal Tournament and Quake 3: Arena, games have moved closer and closer to a fully bred for online experience. This isn’t to say they neglected single-player – it was simply there to structure one’s skills for online play, the true goal of the product.
Many feel this isn’t the case with the spree of lackluster first person shooters, where the single player is a placebo and online is where it’s it. Avalance, developer of Just Cause 2, doesn’t agree though.
The big thing now is to force multiplayer into games that are really single-player games just to combat second hand sales and…it just consumes budget and does not add any value except on the back of the box.
He doesn’t spare DLC either.
DLC is not needed to keep players engaged if the game is well executed…How many games have been truly successful with it? Not that many.
Nonetheless, both trends will continue. Because in this age of blockbuster development, every possible return counts.