Thread by @ZhugeEX

Internal data from Sony shows that PlayStation users regularly spend more time playing single player games than they do online games, and this is why they added the activities feature to PS5.

But aren't single player games dead?

Let's discuss. 1/

vice.com/en/article/5dp…

2/ It's no secret that the AAA games industry as a whole has been shifting away from single player (one & done) towards online and live service (recurrent) games on console.

These titles work at both a $60 price point and via the F2P model as games like Fortnite demonstrated.

3/ EA once famously said that linear single player games are dead, and to some extent they are correct due to adding the linear part

Single player as a whole was never dead

It's just AAA single player games that succeed have evolved to meet the current expectations of players

4/ When people say 'Single player is dead' they are usually referring to third party, AAA, linear, Single Player, narrative driven, $60 games

Why this distinction?

Because rising development costs, increased player expectations and competing service games makes them less viable

5/ Rising Dev Costs

The simple fact is a $100m budget is better suited to a live service game

- Higher engagement from players
- Social / Online experience organically grows community
- More recurrent and persistent revenues post launch

In other words, they're more profitable

6/ Increased Player Expectations

With this ongoing shift across the industry, the mass market now values hours more than before, as well as deeper mechanics and high end graphics.

It turns out players either want longer campaigns, or increased replayability in a short game.

7/ Competing Service Games

With the rise of live service / social gaming, time as a metric has now become more important than ever.

The market for linear AAA games has declined and people end up waiting for sales because they don't get the same value at $60 as in other games.

8/ Single player games have had to evolve over the last generation to meet expectations

- Open World / Wide-Linear
- Popular IP / Franchise
- Focus on deeper narratives
- Multiple game mechanics
- High end graphics
- Post launch content / Monetisation
- Online / Co-Op modes

9/ It's why Assassin's Creed is now a 80 hour game with RPG mechanics and post launch content.

It's why Shadow of War had an open world and loot boxes.

It's why Far Cry 5 had co-op and online + a map creation mode.

It's why Cyberpunk is following most of these trends.

10/ It's also worth noting that in the case of Cyberpunk, the studio is based in Poland which has lower development costs, it has its own game distribution platform and it is planning to release an online / multiplayer version of Cyberpunk in the future, similar to GTA Online.

11/ The AAA single player games that come out today engross players for hours on end both at launch and post launch.

The same can be said about AA / Indie single player games, which have followed similar trends.

But in general, AAA is moving to online live service games.

12/ You'll notice that the above thread mainly refers to AAA single player games from third parties.

When it comes to first party the situation is different. Sony has heavily invested in its studios to create single player games based on both existing franchises and new IP

13/ The reason Sony can do this is two-fold.

1. Sony does not want to compete directly with third parties. It targets an underserved audience to make PlayStation stand out.

While the industry shifts to online live service games, Sony deepens its single player dev expertise

2. First party games have higher profit margins / profitable quicker.

While third party games have to pay a platform fee to Sony, first party games do not. Gross profit margin can be as high as 95% for digital first party games compared to 70% for digital third party games.

This is why Sony focuses on single player games. It's why they take more risks (Death Stranding), it's why they can afford to bundle games more often (Increase the appeal of the console) & why they don't need to sell as much as a third party to generate the same amount of profit

This doesn't mean that Sony isn't immune to market changes either.

A ton of their games such as Horizon, Days Gone, Spider-Man, Ghost of Tsushima etc... have gone open world.

God of War is a 30+ hour game

Some have DLC / Microtransactions

Basically the list in tweet 8/

Sony's first party is not just profitable for them, but it also acts as a way to sell PlayStation consoles, bring more people into the ecosystem and solidify PlayStation as a top brand in gaming.

It's one of the reasons why single player thrives on PlayStation.

In summary:

-AAA third parties see more potential in online live service games, less potential in linear games.

- Single player games have evolved this gen to meet the current expectations of players. Focusing on both quality and quantity of content to engross players.

- Sony focuses on single player games to reach an underserved audience, increase appeal of PlayStation ecosystem and benefit from third party service games.

- Single player games from both first and third party perform well on PlayStation because of this approach.