EA to be Multiplayer-Only.

[insmek]

From: http://massively.joystiq.com/2012/09...e-with-gaming/

From now on, don't expect to see EA coming out with single-player offline titles, because there won't be any. EA Labels President Frank Gibeau said that the company is full-on embracing cloud gaming and online interaction: "I have not green lit one game to be developed as a single player experience. Today, all of our games include online applications and digital services that make them live 24/7/365."

Forbes speculates that this approach might be a boon to MMO players, who might witness a movement toward more integrated services. EA isn't looking to turn all of its titles into MMOs, however, but is definitely adding multiplayer components and more social interaction to them going forward.

Gibeau claims that this is what the players are demanding. "People want to access games anytime and anywhere, they want to connect with friends, and they want to be recognized across multiple devices," he said. "Cloud gaming is going to make it easier to step over walled gardens."

I've been dreading this for years. It's been coming, sure, little by little, but now we've finally arrived. I really do enjoy multiplayer online games a great deal of the time, but sometimes I just want to play a game by myself. Sometimes I don't want my achievements posted to Facebook, or for my friends to be able to chat with my as I'm knee deep in legions of undead. Sometimes I just want to play video games alone.

[Edge-]

Well, thankfully they're not shunning retail physical sales (yet).

But yeah, this is not pleasing at all. It's nice to see one of the major publishers decide to move in a direction, but they're digging their own grave with this move. It's not yet time for online only gameplay as a lot of consumers either don't have access to constant online connections, and the market hasn't approached that point yet either. There are still a lot of people warry of it.

I understand the logic behind it, but IMO it's going to come back to bite them in the butt a bit if they don't make any changes to the kind of services they provide for their online games.

[obao98]

Ridiculous decision.

That's why EA will always be a ridiculous company that pretty much 100% of the gaming community hates.

If you were to create a top 10 (or some other number) list, of all time, or about any specific console, you'd see that the vast majority of those lists are made of single player games.

[Wilian]

I miss times when games were about gaming, not being force fed social shit when it's totally unecessary. And just because you maybe could opt out doesn't mean it wouldn't affect the experience as usually it's tied to some sort of online requirements even for SP.

[Deleted]

oh god @ Sims 4 and "woo hoo"

[Forsedar]

"Cloud gaming is going to make it easier to step over walled gardens."

Gardens are walled for a reason.

[RoKPaNda]

I don't think that means what some people think it means. I think it just means that all the games will have some kind of multiplayer slapped on, not that single player is dead in EA games. Of course this does likely mean that the single player experience will suffer somewhat. I also have to wonder how it works for franchises like Dragon Age which are owned by companies owned by EA. Multiplayer DA doesn't sound all that fun.

[Wilian]

I also have to wonder how it works for franchises like Dragon Age which are owned by companies owned by EA. Multiplayer DA doesn't sound all that fun.

Why not? Multiplayer in NWN was excellent, exists still in masses and only thing that made it worth the price. Just slap in easy to use editor kit and that game would be a hit regardless of the quality of the main campaign itself.

[Remilia]

They're just shooting themselves in the foot, again.

If for whatever reason you can't get internet access, for example on a vacation, and you feel like screwing around at night in the hotel room, well... you can't. People already made server spoofs for various games just to bypass the authentication, just so they can play offline.
It's a business move yes, but it's not something that will appeal well to the gaming community. It only benefits (and maybe a detriment) them as they require a server upkeep, and that servers are never 24/7/365, that's never going to happen. If EA royally messes up and their server goes down like a hamster or someone spills water on the server, welp...

[Deleted]

=(
I prefer playing FIFA alone in manager mode, I prefer Mass Effect singleplayer, I prefer Dragon Age singleplayer, and so on. I only play some games multiplayer, even those that have multiplayer options I stick to SP much of the time. Why do companies persist with forcing people into multiplayer? Sometimes you just want some time alone which Blizzard nor EA seem to understand, would have thought that the catastrophe Diablo 3 is would have deterred others...

[Mashpotaters]

The way he says it comes out like they are going to make every single player game into ME3, meaning that every game will have a tacked on multiplayer. I'm hoping we are over reacting, and what it really means is that every game will just have an online component. Not necessarily multiplayer. Something like leader boards.

[Deleted]

The way he says it comes out like they are going to make every single player game into ME3, meaning that every game will have a tacked on multiplayer. I'm hoping we are over reacting, and what it really means is that every game will just have an online component. Not necessarily multiplayer. Something like leader boards.

Well, one can hope. But for example SimCity 3 is going always-online-"multiplayer" (you can or are incentivised to help neighbouring cities aka players) which seems like quite the herald of what is to come. Even if it's just components, like with ME3 (arguably the MP there was ok though it doesn't really add to the game) the SimCity example could push it a few steps further were you are in perpetual multiplayer even if it's just a thin layer on top of the already existing experience. If that's it, what it means is that you will have to be online to play the game whether you want to play alone or not, and that's where the shoe hurts, it's annoying.

[Deleted]

This might make people actually hack their games even more making user created "servers" for the games and such. It's a horrible decision, but it's their call. It's their grave. And they deserve it, EA has been too greedy lately.

[Dristereau]

So EA Games will all have some sort of multi-player tacked on despite some games not wanting or needing it. All I can see from this is budget taken from the focus of the game to a rubbish side section. Also, whit if EA decides to do something similar to the case of Diablo 3 with online only, and as people have already mentioned; what if you are away/ have no internet connection? Cannot play. Sucks to be those without internet or big on EA Games, they obviously don't like those customers.

[Edge-]

The way he says it comes out like they are going to make every single player game into ME3, meaning that every game will have a tacked on multiplayer. I'm hoping we are over reacting, and what it really means is that every game will just have an online component. Not necessarily multiplayer. Something like leader boards.

This does appear to be what it means for the most part, though I'm worried about if they're going to require an "always on" connection for ALL their games moving forward. That's what I'm most concerned about.

[KCguy]

I think it's a pretty neat idea honestly.

[mizeri]

i didnt like the idea of MP for ME3 and after playing through it i really didnt feel tha the MP added anything to the game, the MP was kinda boring to me.

[slackjawsix]

idk what they do as long as it doesnt effect SSX right now theyve been doing a great job with that game
Free characters were released, DLC was cheap and the latest update gave xbox players former ps3 exclusive content and live events and free ride modes were added (for free)

[insmek]

This does appear to be what it means for the most part, though I'm worried about if they're going to require an "always on" connection for ALL their games moving forward. That's what I'm most concerned about.

That was what I got from it as well, but the prospect of required always-on multiplayer is very worrisome. For instance, Diablo 3 came out while I was in Afghanistan, but even though I owned the right to play the game I had to wait until I returned to the United States almost 2 months later to do so.

[Edge-]

That was what I got from it as well, but the prospect of required always-on multiplayer is very worrisome. For instance, Diablo 3 came out while I was in Afghanistan, but even though I owned the right to play the game I had to wait until I returned to the United States almost 2 months later to do so.

Yeah, there is definitely a lot of work to be done to online gaming to make sure it's accessible to more people. Part of it is on the part of the companies to understand that not everyone has reliable internet connections to this day or do things like play from different regions, but part of it is out of their hands in that they can't force countries/states/provinces/cities/companies to expand broadband internet everywhere in the world : /