Is local multiplayer dying?

[jardantuan]

I was reading something earlier about the PS4, and that there were very few games (possibly none at all) that can have more than 2 players locally, rendering 4 controllers effectively useless. I don't know if this was just of the selection of games that this person had bought, or whether it was from all launch titles, but it's pretty worrying.

Online multiplayer is definitely a good thing, since it enables people with few friends locally (or few friends at all) to still be able to play together with other people, but I feel that local multiplayer is being sacrificed for online. I've definitely noticed that more and more games are neglecting co-operative multiplayer, and just as many don't include competitive local multiplayer.

Some of the best gaming experiences I've ever had are with a group of friends, all sat together in the same room. Nothing will ever rival the feeling of beating a friend and being able to rub it in their face in person. It's sad to think that one day this may no longer be the norm.

 

[Haze]

I do think that local multiplayer is on its way out unfortunately. Which is a darn shame as I love split-screen play with my girlfriend.

 

[trevor_p]

I think it is on it's kness and it has been dying for a long time, but I do think if it came back everyone would welcome it back with open arms

 

[RobDaCool]

Only local multiplayer I play here at home is on the Wii U with the kids -it can be fun

 

[Oberon]

as I love split-screen play with my girlfriend.

Yeah,I played Black Ops 2 with my missus as well. First split screen they when I bought my 3D TV we played 'dual screen'. Its better overall tham splitscreen.
What is dual play? Its both players have full view screen of their game,not split in the middle. You need a passive 3D TV and dual play glasses (which are reg 3D glasses but one set uses 2 left lenses the other 2 rights,this is how it blocks out the other persons image...mostly).The game should also have dual play option in its graphic options too which Black Ops 2 does.. If not it will still work as Ive tried it with Ghosts which doesnt have the setting in game but resolution is not very good)

 

[Talnoy79]

4 player Golden Eye on the SNES oh how I miss thee. So many,many hours shooting each other looking for that golden gun. Those were the days.

Peace out Tal.

 

[SpiralArchitect]

It's a sad state of affairs when local multiplayer is going out of vogue. I mean part of the fun of gaming was sitting with friends together and trying to kill each other virtually.

 

[HydraForce]

At this point it's really coming down to what games are going to actually need Local Mulitplayer. Games like Call of Duty and other titles that are of course going to be in the next rotation of MLG Games will of course support it, but games that aren't won't do so as much. We've come a long, long way since the Xbox 360 and the Playstation 2, and more people have internet access so Local Mulitplayer isn't that big of a thing anymore. Obviously large LAN parties that used to be sponsored by certain companies and events aren't really around anymore. However, someone like me who doesn't have a misses to play with, or a significant other, I don't really mind not having LAN play since I can never find a group of people larger then 6 or so to warrant lanning up my systems.

 

[Plunkd]

4 player Golden Eye on the SNES oh how I miss thee. So many,many hours shooting each other looking for that golden gun. Those were the days.

Peace out Tal.

Yup. That was my childhood. That and Mario Kart 64.

During high school we used to set up three different TVs in a house and play 2v2v2 on Halo (online, but in the same house and two per TV). Was a ton of fun. Now kids have no interest in doing that, they'd rather have the entire screen to themselves and their headset and adults don't have the time to organize it (or perhaps the interest anymore).

It's unfortunate.

 

[DrRipley]

It's sad, but I think it's true. I think some games lend themselves best to local multiplayer, and as long as those are kept the same, I don't think I'd have too much of a problem. The other ones, however, usually games that necessitate split screens are understandable for me to hear that they are stopping multiplayer support for it. I never was a big fan of split screen gaming anyway to begin with, and as I've found out, it's not too practical to ask these game companies to support two separate screens per console.

 

[mauricioq]

Well, me and my friends still play together and we talked about this the other day. Games are defiantly leaving local multilayer behind, you can easily see that less and less games come with local multiplayer and only include the online function. It's really sad since I enjoy games a lot more when playing with friends. :/

 

[mareebaybay]

I will always love local multiplayer especially with my friends. It is so much fun and it is also entertaining because it is so humorous while playing. I love trash talking someone in person, it is so much more fun.

 

[MorgUK]

Yeah It's on its way out. I think 2 controllers on a system is still good, so you can play with friends on fighting games/racing games etc, but 4 players is just silly. There's no need anymore, we're not playing Goldeneye on the N64, there's thousands of players online at the click of a button.

 

[DPatel304]

Unfortunately yes. It started dying last generation, which is a shame. I was so excited when I got my PS3 and heard it supported up to 7 controllers. I realized 7 players is not feasible for most games, but I was expecting more games to take advantage of the console actually supporting more than 2 players out of the box for once (a first for Playstation). I was extremely disappointed in the number of offline multiplayer games last generation, and I expect less this generation. I don't see why we can't have games that support both. I realize online is more popular these days, but why not have games that allow for 2-4 people on one console to all go online together. That would be a blast. I know some games do it, but that number seems to be declining, which sucks.

 

[SpaceTiger]

Wii U and PS3 are the only consoles I still play local multiplayer with my brother and friends--usually wrestling games and occasionally team sports (which aren't as fun or frantic as local multiplayer wrestling games). It'll stick around mainly for sports and fighting games that actually accommodate local multiplayer (Super Smash Bros. franchise).

...it's modes like that that BOMBERMAN needs to make a triumphant return.

 

[DrRipley]

Unfortunately yes. It started dying last generation, which is a shame. I was so excited when I got my PS3 and heard it supported up to 7 controllers. I realized 7 players is not feasible for most games, but I was expecting more games to take advantage of the console actually supporting more than 2 players out of the box for once (a first for Playstation). I was extremely disappointed in the number of offline multiplayer games last generation, and I expect less this generation. I don't see why we can't have games that support both. I realize online is more popular these days, but why not have games that allow for 2-4 people on one console to all go online together. That would be a blast. I know some games do it, but that number seems to be declining, which sucks.

I agree, it's such a shame that just when technology is good enough to make games to support more than 4 players also meant that online would be the next big thing. I guess it's just the nature of progress, as arcades were once thought of as the golden way to enjoy multiplayer and community gaming before home consoles, and now home console multiplayer is being left behind for an even more convenient option.

 

[Tomba]

I would love the return of Bomberman. He pops up here and there, but we need actual Bomberman. I agree about local multiplayer dying. It's hard to make that part of a game a focal point since it depends heavily on you having more controllers and people who want to play with you. You can the main campaign and online multiplayer with one controller and companies cater to those two more.