Most gamers prefer single player games - via Midia Research

[Yurinka]

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As a fan of single player games, I have to say that this graph is totally unrelated to the reality of the market, where we see that a big majority of the revenue and userbase is on MP and not in SP.

When did First Gen GAAS start?

There are no GaaS generations. But if they would, the first one would be in the last millenium with the first PC MMORPGs. Later got followed by PC casual browser games, which evolved into F2P and later into social games with Facebook.

 

[Kokoloko]

As a fan of single player games, I have to say that this graph is totally unrelated to the reality of the market, where we see that a big majority of the revenue and userbase is on MP and not in SP.


There are no GaaS generations. But if they would, the first one would be in the last millenium with the first PC MMORPGs. Later got followed by PC casual browser games, which evolved into F2P and later into social games with Facebook.

Its weird how people think “gaas” is a new thing

 

[Evilnemesis8]

As a fan of single player games, I have to say that this graph is totally unrelated to the reality of the market, where we see that a big majority of the revenue and userbase is on MP and not in SP.

That singular graph in the OP only tells us what kind of games people of different age prefer on a personal level.
It doesn't tell us their spending habits or how much time they spend on them.

For example, I could absolutely be a RPG guy and the couple hundred hours spent on 2-3 RPGs during a year would be my favourite gaming experiences, but it doesn't mean that between releases I didn't play XYZ online games and spent more money or time with them. Player satisfaction is not directly related to playing time although it can be.


Also, every age bracket under 45 is more than 50% MP, those would make for the majority of gamers.
So it kind of checks out actually.

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

Its weird how people think “gaas” is a new thing

It is new.

Gaming started in the 1958. GAAS started in the late 90's / early 00's by a very small number of studios. GAAS started on consoles about 10 years ago.

 

[Kokoloko]

It is new.

Gaming started in the 1958. GAAS started in the late 90's / early 00's by a very small number of studios. GAAS started on consoles about 10 years ago.

10 years ago on consoles and 90’s and 2000’s isn’t new anymore.

Thats not including games like Final Fantasy 11 on PS2

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

10 years ago on consoles and 90’s and 2000’s isn’t new anymore.

Thats not including games like Final Fantasy 11 on PS2

It is new when games now take 4 - 7 years to make.

10 years ago it represented an irrelevant percentage of industry investment. Today it is the industry.

 

[Kokoloko]

It is new when games now take 4 - 7 years to make.

10 years ago it represented an irrelevant percentage of industry investment. Today it is the industry.

No1 is denying its popularity.

Saying its gonna replace all games is just pointless though

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

No1 is denying its popularity.

Saying its gonna replace all games is just pointless though

3D didn't "replace" 2D but everyone understands how drastic the transition was. There are still Dave and Busters arcade restaurants out there too.

 

[Kokoloko]

3D didn't "replace" 2D but everyone understands how drastic the transition was. There are still Dave and Busters arcade restaurants out there too.

The translation from 2D and 3D gaming isnt the same thing though. Its just “graphics” We have 16bit looking indies selling 10+ million lol.

MP/SP isnt even a genre or “graphics”. Its just how people play.
More and more new games, (kids, teens, adults) will be adding to the MP pool, and some current SP gamers too. While at the same time probably a smaller percentage will be adding to the current SP pool. Both will increase. MP will increase more probably but that doesnt mean SP dies out.

SP games like Zelda, GOW, Spiderman, Elden Ring, even Wukong are selling more than most SP ever did.
If they were dying we would see a decrease. Its not gonna die or become niche, its only gonna grow too. Maybe not close to how MP games are expanding. But still gonna be selling millions.

SP Games like RDR3 are still gonna come, even if GTA6 makes them a zillion dollars.
Stop trying to cancel SP games lol

 

[Men_in_Boxes]

The translation from 2D and 3D gaming isnt the same thing though. Its just “graphics” We have 16bit looking indies selling 10+ million lol.

MP/SP isnt even a genre or “graphics”. Its just how people play.
More and more new games, (kids, teens, adults) will be adding to the MP pool, and some current SP gamers too. While at the same time probably a smaller percentage will be adding to the current SP pool. Both will increase. MP will increase more probably but that doesnt mean SP dies out.

SP games like Zelda, GOW, Spiderman, Elden Ring, even Wukong are selling more than most SP ever did.
If they were dying we would see a decrease. Its not gonna die or become niche, its only gonna grow too. Maybe not close to how MP games are expanding. But still gonna be selling millions.

SP Games like RDR3 are still gonna come, even if GTA6 makes them a zillion dollars.
Stop trying to cancel SP games lol

Arcades to onsoles wasn't "genre or graphics" either, it was just how people play.

You don't measure a dying market by the extremely small number of uber successes in said market, you measure the market by total dollars spent in that market. That's shrinking.

SP represents a shrinking pond and the small number of predator fish are killing all the rest. As the pond shrinks, what used to be predator fish (Star Wars Outlaws, Dragon Age Veilgaurd) start becoming the feeder fish.

Kids today are not investing in SP like they did 10, 20 years ago. As the GAAS market continues to improve, the rate of kids preferring SP games will only worsen. As time passes, the old heads will die out of the medium and be replaced by young GAAS loving gamers.

Go watch Lion King. This is the circle of life.

 

[BroodCorp]

I haven’t committed my time to a multiplayer game since the early days of R6 Siege. MP overall is so much more volatile and subject to trends and shifts. Hard to rely on a game satisfying players long term.

 

[dmaul1114]

I definitely much prefer single player games. Mostly always have, other than getting lightly into PVP with some COD and Halo games etc. on 360 that generation.

I do enjoy some coop stuff with friends like Borderlands, Diablo, Helldivers etc., but even that I’m much less often in the mood for these days than say a decade ago. I’m just older, busier, more burnt out etc. and mostly just like to veg out alone in my downtime vs. having to coordinate times to play together, have to chat and coordinate strategies while playing, downtime while others do inventory management etc.

That said, like others have noted, I of course understand that online games are the big money making machines for these corporations and they all want to find their own COD, Fortnite, GTA online, Roblox etc. to print money for them.

Single player games are just going to have to adapt. We see stuff like Final Fantasy 7 Rebirth being like the 9th best selling game this year so far and still being a sales disappointment for Square Enix due to the budget and the profit margin expectations corporate execs and shareholders have.

Some single player games/franchises probably need to scale back some on graphics, amount of voice acting, length etc. to get the budgets down. And I’m fine with that personally, I don’t need absolute top tier production value to enjoy a game. It’s nice to have, but I’d rather keep getting good gameplay and stories in single player games than have a big decline in the number of them releasing overall.