14 DAY TRIAL // Games with just single-player modes aren't doomed, at least according to Shadows of the Damned director Massimo Guarini, who revealed that, in order to stay competitive with the titles that offer sprawling multiplayer modes alongside the regular campaign, they need to adjust their pricing.
Nowadays, it's become quite out of the ordinary to see a game be released without any sort of online component, most of the times a multiplayer mode, no matter how little sense it makes in the actual story of the title.
As such, we've seen tacked-on modes appear for quite a lot of titles, while those that remained single-player only have started seeing their sales figures shrink.
Shadows of the Damned is a recent example, as the shooter created by some of the most famous developers from Japan, including Resident Evil creator Shinji Mikami or No More Heroes mastermind Goichi Suda, didn't manage to get past the 50,000 unit mark in its first few weeks.
The director of the game, Massimo Guarini, believes this isn't a sign that games without multiplayer are doomed, but he does say that pricing needs to be adjusted for such titles.
"In my opinion, single-player-only games are nowhere close to being doomed," he told GameSpot. "The problem rather lies in how they're produced, through which channels are sold, and at which price points. I can't see in any way a single-player experience being less engaging or interesting because of the absence of multiplayer. Instead, I can definitely see how players who pay 60 or 70 bucks for a game can be quite sensitive to the lack of additional features that can justify their investment."
Guarini doesn't want a change just for single-player games, as the whole industry needs to get in shape and embrace better pricing policies that take into account digital distribution and drive the cost of development down.
"Once again, the business model must evolve. We're still selling at incredibly high price points because we're still operating like we were five years ago, with just higher production costs. Instead of changing our perspectives, we're still struggling to pack games with features, extras, bonuses, achievements, in order to barely justify that price tag, which is given by excessively high development and licensing costs.
"We must learn our lesson from the huge, epic failure the music industry is still suffering nowadays for not being able to adapt to the digital Revolution," he said.
Without a doubt Guarini's words are great to hear, but, until the industry actually hears them and starts making some changes, things will stay the same.