Xbox Publishing Head Says Single-Player Games Are Still Viable
With the development of video games especially over the last decade, there have been questions on whether or not single-player games are still viable among developers. Sharing her insight on the matter, an Xbox boss weighed in on the possible future single-player games might be facing.
In an interview with Gamespot, Shannon Loftis, who leads Xbox Publishing for first-party games, said that this type of video game is not yet dead. She noted, however, that there are undeniable challenges in terms of its viability on the economic aspect.
"Game development in general is about a couple of things. It's about delivering and experience and it's about telling stories," said Loftis. "Storytelling is as central to game development as it ever has been," she added. She said that the evolving and constantly changing gaming market truly poses a serious hurdle for the profitability of single-player titles.
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Loftis noted that though there are still single-player games such as "Horizon Zero Dawn" and "Fallout 4" that have been making waves, the development of these games demand a bigger budget to reach and maintain their compelling status.
"I don't think that it's dead per se. I do think the economics of taking a single-player game and telling a very high fidelity multi-hour story get a little more complicated. Gamers want higher fidelity and they want higher resolution graphics," she added, pointing that these games require bigger funding.
In the long run, Loftis believes that single-player games will not die completely. "I don't think that there is ever going to be a time when there aren't single-player, story-based games. I do love the idea of building a community around the experience of these games," she stated.
With the impending arrival of the Xbox One X, Microsoft made sure that there will be room for single-player games that have become hits in the previous years. The gaming giant announced in an Xbox Wire post that "select Xbox 360 games" including "Fallout 3" will receive enhancements for the upcoming console.
This means that gamers who will play the title in the Xbox One X will enjoy higher resolution with expanded color details and 9X its original pixel count.
