Black Ops 4 : Should A Game Have A Campaign?

Supply And Demand

Has the demand for a campaign gotten completely drowned out by the unrelenting popularity and versatility of multiplayer? The games industry is a lot of things to a lot of people but at the end of the day it's a business, and all their decisions can be broken down and viewed economically. And one of the most basic laws of economics is the rule of supply and demand, which is the simple equation used so that the availability of a product or service meets the desire for it. And lets face it, the demand for multiplayer games has never been higher. Games such as Overwatch, Fortnight, and many more have been topping the charts in sales and have remained some of the most popular games to stream on Twitch. So, when you look strictly at the statistics and sales of recent games it's easy to see why studios are stressing the importance of multiplayer in their games. But are we on a progressive path, or are we leaving something less popular behind? 

It's Only The Beginning

source © Statista 2018

Although it may sound ominous that the overall focus the industry has on multiplayer is only growing, it's not all bad, look what multiplayer has done for video games. Esports is putting video games on the map, and discussions about allowing the sport in to the Olympics has become more and more prevalent. Not to mention, the crowds that esports draw in are not to be ignored. Thanks to the data gathered on esports by Statistica, the market is projected to bring in over 1.1 billion dollars in revenue by 2019. And unfortunately it's not the Witcher 3 that people are coming to see, because what people want to see is a competition.

It's true that some single player games can still drive competition through speed runs and completing collections, but speed runs hasn't become a billion dollar business. The fact is, people love to watch their favorite pro players compete against others in the competitive game of their choosing. And all this attention and revenue has not gone unnoticed by developers and their studios. Especially when you consider the cost involved to create something the majority of your player base will only play once and might not even finish. Rob Fahey discussed this in the Game Industry article The Economics of Single Player Games a year ago, but if you read it, you'll see it remains true to this day. The fact is that developers are spending a large chunk of their budget on something that has arguably become unnecessary to sell a game.

Why Make A Single Player Game  

Well, all we've talked about is what makes a game popular and profitable, but single player offers something that multiplayer never will. It's something that's hard to describe so I'll simply call it the 'impact' the game has on a player. The wow moment that connects a player to a game and brings out a much wider span of emotions. What does this is the story offered within a game's campaign, and although some forms of multiplayer can offer story as well, it's often much shorter. Players are willing to put in hours, days, weeks or more into a game's story so that they can feel the connection and impact the story gives them.

But unfortunately, to some that's not enough. And that brings me to one of the most shocking displays of the drop in single player popularity. Recently the beloved studio Telltale Games let go nearly all its staff, leaving a skeleton crew of 25 people to finish their current project with Netflix. How these people were let go without any warning or severance pay is sad and disgusting, but I unfortunately can't go into more detail without straying from the topic. To learn more Megan Farokhmanesh, from The Verge wrote a great piece going into detail on the sad news, and you can read it here.

So, the question remains, why make a single player game? Especially when multiplayer has proven to be statistically more profitable and popular. Well, Activision and Treyarch have most likely asked the same question before developing Black Ops 4, and they controversially decided to not invest in one. Instead they chose to use that money and time to put more effort into their variety of multiplayer. And in a way, the very same reason they chose to do this, is the answer to that question, which is, know your audience. If you know your audience then you already know whether to invest in a single player game or not.



But what do you think? Is Activision and Treyarch making a mistake by not including a campaign, or are they simply reading the market and giving people what they want.