Red Dead Redemption lead game designer and co-writer and Shadow of Mordor co-writer Christian Cantamessa stated in a recent MasterClass livestream that although there's currently a divide between story moments and multiplayer moments in open world games, he feels that those elements will begin to integrate better as the genre evolves.



Open world games will incorporate more multiplayer and more ways to manipulate the story in the future, according to Red Dead Redemption lead game designer and co-writer and Shadow of Mordor co-writer Christian Cantamessa during a recent MasterClass livestream at the Cité des Sciences et de l’Industrie in Paris.

Cantamessa stated that open world games have now become a genre of their own, a great way to give agency to the player, tell a story, and offer multiplayer on top of the content that the player can already consume whenever he or she wants.They possess a "great sense of place" and make players feel like they're actually inhabiting the area.

Though currently there's a divide between story moments and multiplayer moments, he feels that those elements will begin to integrate better as the genre evolves, and that evolution will come as gameplay becomes more dynamic, like the Nemesis system of Shadow of Mordor.

Multiplayer content, on the other hand, like that of Grand Theft Auto Online, is going to become more MMO-like in terms of involvement. Developers will make it so that there'll be more co-op, story, and “roleplay” in those multiplayer-only sessions.

Cantamessa concluded by saying that this is all just his own speculation, but that it's easy from his perspective to see that the genre is headed in this direction.

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