A few years ago, video game companies suddenly started saying that single-player games dead, in favor of pushing live-service models and for most major releases to have some sort of multiplayer connectivity into it. While publishers like EA thought that single-player games might be a thing of the past and that online games were the future, fortunately, that wasn’t the case of others in the industry.
Take-Two Interactive’s CEO Strauss Zelnick, for instance, also believes that single-player games are here to stay. During the company’s recent quarterly earnings call (via MP1st), Zelnick said that he doesn’t believe single player games are dead as that they will play a key role in the company’s future, mentioning Rockstar and Grand Theft Auto as examples.
Zelnick said: “There was a time when a couple of our competitors were taking the position that single player was dead. We never took that position. We know that there’s a role for a single player. I believe there will be a role going forward. Then there are certain games that are meant to be only multiplayer experiences.”
“Rockstar is known for storytelling, and yes, Rockstar is also known for these fantastic open-world experiences. They clearly do both really well. And The Contract shows, as you just said that, consumers are really excited about Rockstar’s storytelling ability, and at the same time, we had a great quarter with Grand Theft Auto Online. So there’s a lot of excitement there. So the answer is sort of all of the above.”
It is not surprising to hear this from Zelnick, as Take-Two’s biggest franchises such as Red Dead Redemption and Grand Theft Auto are known for their top-notch single-player experiences- and with the next Grand Theft Auto is currently in development, it is safe to believe that there’s more to come on that front.