Several big-name publishers have taken a lot of flak in recent years for moving away from single player games to online ones, with titles such as Destiny and The Division become increasingly popular with each passing year. EA (along with other major publishers), in fact, quite infamously said not so long ago that gamers were losing interest in single player games, a comment that attracted quite a lot of criticism from plenty of people.
However, at last night’s PSX event, Sony Interactive America’s CEO Shawn Layden said that Sony does not abide by that same philosophy. Layden assured people that Sony has a lot of devotion for telling stories through their video games, and that making long single player games will continue to be a focus at Sony and all their studios. Layden commented that Sony doesn’t want to force its studios to make, say, Games as Service experiences just because it’s been a popular trend lately, and that all their studios will continue to do what they’re good at doing.
That’s very encouraging to hear, to say the least, especially in days when it’s starting to feel like companies don’t care as much about making quality single player only games. That’s not to say there’s anything wrong with games of other kinds, or with Games as Service models such as Destiny– but the market and the industry need variety, and it’s good to see publishers such as Sony, Bethesda and Nintendo continuing to make single player experiences.
Recently released super-successul titles such as The Last of Us, Uncharted and Horizon: Zero Dawn are ample evidence to suggest that Sony are definitely on the right track, and with even more similar major releases such as Days Gone, Ghost of Tsushima, and The Last of Us Part 2 coming up, it’s pretty clear that they’re going to continue to head in that direction. That’s nothing if not great news.
