Sony/Epic GamesIf there’s one thing I think we can all agree on, it’s that the PlayStation 4 has absolutely dominated this generation when it comes to single player experiences.
Bloodborne, Uncharted 4, God of War, and Marvel’s Spider-Man are just a few examples. All four games are critically acclaimed, and the latter two brought in huge sales for Sony.
With Days Gone, Ghosts of Tsushima and The Last Of Us Part II still to come, it’s safe to say that players have truly appreciated these quality story driven experiences in an era where other publishers seem to focus on “games as service.”
Insomniac GamesIn a new interview with Business Insider, PlayStation boss Shawn Layden acknowledges that they’ve churned out some fantastic single player hits on the PS4, but hints that the PS5 may see the company redouble their efforts when it comes to multiplayer games.
While he touched on the possibility of more couch co-op – which would obviously be more than welcome – he went on to tease more experiences in the vein of Call of Duty or GTA Online. Games as service, in other words.
He explained:
But, no, I was referencing more with the things like GTA 5 Online, or you look at Call of Duty, or Fortnite, or any of those experiences. Worldwide Studios, like I say, we’ve been going really heavy into story-driven gaming. The power of the narrative. Big, spectacular experiences. But not a whole lot in the multiplayer side of things, I think. That’s an area where you will likely see us start to make more noise in the new term.
After coming out of a year where Spider-Man and God of War broke all kinds of sales records for the company, it would be truly baffling to see PlayStation completely abandon the single player experiences it’s been nailing.
Of course, just because PlayStation plans to double down on more multiplayer games doesn’t mean it’s fully abandoning single player.
I can’t believe anyone at Sony or PlayStation would truly believe that to be a good idea after so consistently beating out Xbox in terms of exclusives and game sales this generation, but I guess we’ll have to wait and see.
Ewan Moore is a journalist at UNILAD Gaming who still quite hasn’t gotten out of his mid 00’s emo phase. After graduating from the University of Portsmouth in 2015 with a BA in Journalism & Media Studies (thanks for asking), he went on to do some freelance words for various places, including Kotaku, Den of Geek, and TheSixthAxis, before landing a full time gig at UNILAD in 2016.