A Discussion of Multiplayer Gaming Longevity

[Derri]

Hello,

I am wanting to start a topic about Multiplayer gaming and generally how long these games last.

Currently we actually have only a few titles that has Multiplayer modes in titles that are actually supported for long periods of time e.g. 6 months to a year or maybe even longer. These titles would Battlefield, Call of Duty, Titanfall, Halo and a few other lesser known games. Then you have Free to Play which of course remains supported.

However many games are released with a MP mode and quite often its never really supported long term. Developers will make initial patches and then after 3 to 4 months will just stop all together on the title and move on to other projects. Many games have good and interesting Multiplayer modes but they're never supported for more than a few months after launch.

Do you think this is a factor in why people generally don't try out MP modes in new games or existing franchises? because ultimately the game is going to be unsupported after a months and developers aren't really going to invest the time to make sure the MP improves and add things to it.

 

[Haze]

I would say because in most cases, multiplayer feels tacted-on. Take for example Batman Arkham Origins and the Assassin's Creed games. To me at least, they just felt like a last minute tacked-on part of the game when really, the games never needed them. I guess developers would be afraid that once a player completes the single-player, they won't touch it again or for a long long while, so they add the multiplayer to keep people in the game.

And let's face it, every game with a multiplayer mode wants to be the next Call of Duty. The fact is, as much as I don't enjoy COD, nothing will ever beat it. Battlefield may come close, but at the end of the day Call of Duty will always come out top dog. Developers see this and want a piece of the action too, but unfortunately people are too comfortable with what they already have, which is why COD is a big hit each and every time. People are too used to it and it's easy to get into as each entry basically plays the same. People don't want a steep learning curve when playing online. They just want to get right into the action. And there lies probably another problem. When new games try multiplayer (again, Batman Arkham Origins and Assassin's Creed comes to mind), usually it's going to be different to everything else online and going to take some time to adjust and understand how to play/learn something new. This might come across as ignorant or rude, but a lot of gamers have short attention spans these days. And what would they rather - boot up a game and get right into it? Or spend 1-2 hours learning something completely different when during that time they could be having fun playing the former game?

As far as developers giving up 3-4 months after the launch of a game, I would say that's due to not enough players online to warrant regular updates.

My two cents. Might be frowned upon, but just being honest