The Future Of Single Player Games

Should we be worried about playing solo?

- Samuel Roberts, Phil Savage & Andy Kelly

Samuel: Hitman is seemingly dead, lads. Well, at least as dead as Deus Ex is – the last episodic game was great, but Square Enix took a big write down on IO Interactive and is trying to sell them. It’s rather sad, because it followed Mass Effect apparently being put on hold the previous day, following the mixed reaction to Andromeda. Who’d have thought even two years ago that the future of those series would be in jeopardy? Do I sound a slither too pessimistic here, chaps? Must I check myself before I wreck myself? Are single player games about to cash in their chips?

Phil: No. Although imagine that ‘no’ is being elongated and the pitch of my voice is raising higher and higher until it’s nothing more than a shrill squeak, because honestly I just don’t know. I don’t think single player games are done, but I do wonder if the industry is sustainable in its current form. I liked hitman, and I’m sad it hasn’t done better, but is a few underperforming games a reason to condemn all of single player gaming?