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- The Phantom Blade Zero director, Liang Qiwei, says that a single-player game’s success helps the entire genre.
- Gamers only play a single-player title for a limited time before moving on to others in the genre.
- He argues that this leads to a more friendly competition between game developers in the genre, as players feel more confident.
It’s fair to say that single-player games are making a huge comeback after the golden age of the live-service era. The Phantom Blade Zero director, Liang Qiwei, says this shift is not due to competition but rather collaboration between developers and gamers in the genre.
He clarifies that there is more friendly competition in the single-player space because the success of one game drives sales and popularity of many others in the genre.
The opposite is true in the multiplayer genre, where most new titles flop because of the dominating live-service titles.
Why it matters: The success of any single-player game drives success for the entire genre because gamers are more willing to try multiple titles. This has caused the rise of many single-player titles in recent years.
In an interview with Eurogamer, Liang says that no matter how popular and well-crafted a single-player title is, players will eventually move on from it to try other ones in the genre. So, there’s no reason for any fierce competition between developers.
When it comes to single-player games, I think the competition becomes much more friendly, because no matter how good your game is, the player can just play your game for, at most, one month let’s say And then they will shift to another game.
In fact, the success of a single-player title makes gamers feel more confident in the other offerings and drives more players to the genre. For example, Black Myth: Wukong has brought attention to many other single-player Chinese titles that are coming to the market.
As a result, Stellar Blade studio Shift Up even believes that gamers now prefer single-player entries over multiplayer ones.
Because of these changing dynamics, both PlayStation and Xbox are now focusing on filling their portfolios with single-player games.
Do you agree that single-player games rely on each other’s success to help the whole genre, or is fierce competition needed between developers instead? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below, or join the discussion on the Tech4Gamers forum.
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Shameer Sarfaraz has previously worked for eXputer as a Senior News Writer for several years. Now with Tech4Gamers, he loves to devoutly keep up with the latest gaming and entertainment industries. He has a Bachelor’s Degree in Computer Science and years of experience reporting on games. Besides his passion for breaking news stories, Shahmeer loves spending his leisure time farming away in Stardew Valley. VGC, IGN, GameSpot, Game Rant, TheGamer, GamingBolt, The Verge, NME, Metro, Dot Esports, GameByte, Kotaku Australia, PC Gamer, and more have cited his articles.
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