If you're the type of gamer to shun online interactivity and retreat into your own little video gaming world when you play, you won't like what EA Games' boss Frank Gibeau has to say.
Chatting with trade site Develop, Gibeau says "I volunteer you to speak to EA's studio heads; they'll tell you the same thing. They're very comfortable moving the discussion towards how we make connected gameplay – be it co-operative or multiplayer or online services – as opposed to fire-and-forget, packaged goods only, single-player, 25-hours-and you're out. I think that model is finished."
"Online is where the innovation, and the action, is at".
OK, so "online services" probably just means "downloadable content", ala what we've seen with Mass Effect 2, but as someone who shuns online play unless required by my job, the rest of what he says just breaks my heart. Not everybody plays games for competition, or sport, or interaction. There are many who play games as a form of escape, a peaceful way to enjoy some time alone, so talk of moving away from games specifically engineered for solo play sounds like poison to my ears.
Here's hoping not every publisher feels as EA does. So long as there are gamers who prefer to play alone, there's a market to cater for!
EA's leap of faith [Develop]