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Right now, after 10 years of unparalleled gaming on “World of Warcraft”, the industry is introducing a new concept called “shared world”. The games are no longer single-player because they’re fully immersed into multiplayer. This brand new form of gaming makes the whole experience a lot more dramatic and hasty, particularly since players are permitted to make personal decisions and choose what to do in a game.
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The evolution of multiplayer gaming
The gaming industry has gone through a lot of changes over the past few years. Games are not just bolder now, but also incredibly realistic. The single-player mode is on the verge of extinction because companies are trying to make video games more social. This means open-world features and multi-player modes go hand in hand with social media exposure on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
Bioware made its debut in the multiplayer sector with “Star Wars: The Old Republic”, in 2011. An adored sequel followed – “Knights of the Old Republic” – which was an RPG greatly appreciated by fans of the genre.
When “Titanfall” was announced in 2013, avid gamers were thrilled to see that the game was based entirely on multiplayer. “The Elder Scrolls Online” and the newly released “Destiny” are also infused with these capabilities.
Can you see that there’s a clear pattern shaping up? “Uncharted” and “Mass Effect” are not the only games out there tacking multiplayer modes. Massive companies like Blizzard, Infinity Ward, BioWare and Bungie are ditching single-players modes because they don’t provide interactive in-game experience like multiplayer.
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Online gameplay matters more that actual storylines
Video games are becoming incredibly social. Ten years ago, most players enjoyed a game for the quest it provided, and for the storyline it featured. Right now, the games are more centered on social media. Gamers like to play them in teams; they want to have fun not just complete missions, and for this they need multiplayer.
Famous titles such as the ‘World of Warcraft’ will always move forward because the game offers a revenue stream like no other platform in the industry.
A lot of companies have tried to copy its model and failed. ‘League of Legends’ has proven that a video game can be incredibly profitable even if it’s free to play. In-game purchases are a matter of choice, and when the player base is engaged, spending a few dollars on extra perks is not such a big deal.
To put it simply, for game developers it’s often cheaper to build a multiplayer game. Because of today’s advanced technology, games are capable of expressing the most compelling stories.
MOBA (multiplayer online battle arena) and MMO (multiplayer online) games have started to swallow up the industry, and it’s amazing that “Evolve” and “Titanfall” provide open-world capabilities. Players can choose what places to explore and what decisions to make, so it’s interesting and puzzling to play until the end to see what happens.
Future video games will go overboard with their multiplayer capabilities sometime in the future. Because it’s impossible to stop technology from advancing, it’s safe to say that single-player modes will slowly but surely fade into nothingness.
They might not disappear completely, but they’re losing ground because of a gamer’s wish to interact in a game, collaborate and socialize.
