On Sept. 14, it was announced at the Tokyo Game Show (TGS) that Ninja Gaiden III was going to include a multiplayer mode. Team Ninja, the developer of the Ninja Gaiden series, refers to this mode as a “world of ninjas.” For those who do not know, the Ninja Gaiden franchise has been a single-player game franchise since day one with the exception of Ninja Gaiden Sigma 2, which included a cooperative mode. Single-player refers to games that involve the player, a world and a story that the developer is trying to tell. Multiplayer is where real people compete against each other.
This sort of thought process that video games have to have a multiplayer mode has been a growing concern of mine. Sitting on my shelf at this moment are fifteen video games, ten of which have a multiplayer mode. The consumer and the sales of certain games run the gaming industry. This certain game, which has made millions upon billions of dollars, is Call of Duty and what Call of Duty has that consumers specifically buy it for is the multiplayer. Every reviewer, from what I’ve heard/read, will usually say “But what you’re really interested in is the multiplayer…” This has put every other developer in the mindset that games that once were single-player-only games now need multiplayer. Game Franchises such as: Bioshock, the aforementioned Ninja Gaiden, Dead Space, Assassin’s Creed, Resident Evil, Grand Theft Auto, etc. The list goes on and on and on.
Batman: Arkham City, a story of Batman’s escapades in a section of Gotham City, was rumored to have a multiplayer mode. This was debunked by the developer, Rocksteady, by saying that, "Our thought process behind this was fairly simple: when we investigated adding multiplayer we asked, 'If we use all of the energy that is required to create multiplayer and instead focus this on the single player, would that deliver a better overall game?'” Rocksteady continues by saying that, "So it might not be the fashionable choice, it might not get us an extra tick on the box, but we are convinced, and we hope that gamers will agree when they get to play the finished game, that we have made the right decision."
Let me be totally clear, I do not hate Call of Duty or any other game that has multiplayer. I am not a huge fan of games having a multiplayer mode pushed on them like it’s some sort or requirement in today’s gaming world. As a gamer, I don’t much care for multiplayer. Single-player games are what made the industry what it is today. Games like: Super Mario, Tetris, Metroid, Pac-man, Frogger, and nearly all of the really old school games never needed a multiplayer mode. Sound off in the comments. Do you prefer single-player-only games or multiplayer games?
