While a large part of the gaming industry increasing turning to online-only model for games released in the past few years (the term coined is ‘Games As A Service’), it turns out gamers aren’t always into the idea of being constantly online.
53% Of Gamers Prefers Single-Player
“Many AAA game makers have been chasing the live-service trend, looking to replicate the success of Fortnite, League of Legends, Roblox, and other success stories,” Rhys Elliott of Midia Research stated in the blog post (via Wccftech). He continued, “even developers that rose to prominence thanks to single-player – with games that helped put their publishers on the map – were pushed to chase the live-service trend.”
However, data suggests that 53% of all gamers prefer single-player games over online-focused counterparts, which includes PvE (Player versus Environment), Couch co-op (local multiplayer), and Online PvP (Player versus Player). There is a trend that older gamers have greater preference in single-player games, while online multiplayer is more popular among teens and young adults.
The trends this year also suggests that live-service games is getting less positive response compared to single-player hits, which includes Elden Ring and Black Myth: Wukong, each with 25 million and 20 million copies sold. On the contrary, Sony’s Concord is widely known as the biggest failure this year that led to the game’s closure in just several days after its launch.
Elliott also pointed out that while the cost of building AAA single-player games are astronomical – Spider-Man 2’s development cost has ballooned over $300 million – live-service games like Genshin Impact has costed $100 million in development, plus $200 million “per year” needed for future updates and operational costs. “For many AAA publishers making new games, it might be time to course-correct from the red live-service ocean to the bluer single-player one – or at least shift some more resources to solo experiences.”
Pokdepinion: I do think that some kind of consumer fatigue towards live-service games played a part in steering gamers towards single-player games.
