Prolific game publisher Sony exclusive single-player games like God of War, The Last of Us: Part 2 and Horizon Forbidden West are excellent examples of successful games without multiplayer, but Electronic Arts apparently thinks the genre is dead.
Electronic Arts is one of the industry's biggest publishers, and in recent years the company's games have put a noticeable emphasis on multiplayer content. Many of the company's sports games, like NHL 22, NBA 22 and Madden NFL 22, do feature single-player modes but put a much larger emphasis on online multiplayer for competitive matches or team management. Last year Electronic Arts published It Takes Two, a cooperative action game without any single-player option, and Battlefield 2042 is also multiplayer-only without the series' typical single-player story campaign.
A recent tweet from Electronic Arts tried to dunk on single-player games while referencing a popular meme, writing, "They're a 10 but they only like playing single-player games." The belittling of single-player experiences was immediately torn down in the replies section, with gamers and creators firing back by claiming EA knows little about scoring a 10. Industry icons like Outer Worlds developer Obsidian Entertainment and God of War director Cory Barlog also spoke out in of the single-player games they lovingly craft. Game developer Zach Mumbach had particularly strong words for Electronic Arts, explaining that the publisher shuttered Dead Space developer Visceral Games because they were creating a single-player title. Electronic Arts has since retracted the statement, claiming the response was a "Roast well deserved."
Respected game developer Josef Fares seems to agree with Electronic Arts, recently claiming that single-player games are too long and often become repetitive as a result. The film director and game designer's first title was Brothers: A Tale of Two Sons, an innovative adventure game where players control two brothers using one controller thumbstick for each. Fares built upon this concept with A Way Out, which lacks a single-player mode and must be played by two players through split screen co-op. His newest title It Takes Two follows the same format, and Electronic Arts coincidentally published the multiplayer-only adventure game.
Electronic Arts tried making a joke at the expense of single-player games, but the tight-knit narrative-driven genre still has countless fans. Players and developers alike came out in of single-player titles, proving that multiplayer has yet to completely dominate the industry. Perhaps the social media backlash, and the Twitter post's embarrassing ratio of likes compared to its replies, has taught Electronic Arts something about what gamers want to play.
Sources: Electronic Arts/Twitter (1, 2), Obsidian Entertainment/Twitter, Cory Barlog/Twitter, Zach Mumbach/Twitter
