PlayStation Executive: “There’s Still a Huge Audience For” Single Player Experiences

Chris Compendio December 10, 2018 8:15 PM EST

Sony executive Warwick Light cited God of War and Marvel's Spider-Man in saying that players still want single player narrative experiences.

With the rise of console games such as Destiny and major events like the closure of Visceral Games, there was a growing concern in 2018 within the gaming community about a potential phasing out of single-player games in favor of games-as-a-service. PlayStation, however, is pushing back against the narrative, citing their own success with story-driven games this year.

Speaking to magazine MCVUK, Vice President & Managing Director for the UK, IE & Australasia at Sony Interactive Entertainment Europe Warrick Light (that’s a mouthful, Warrick) quelled any concerns that there would be too major a shift from single-player to multiplayer.

While 2018 was indisputably a big year for Fortnite, it was also a year which saw us really act like a publisher and focus on our exclusive titles whether it was God of War, Spider-Man, Detroit or VR titles such as Astro Bot. Buzzwords are one thing, what our players are demanding is another. There’s still a huge audience for games that offer the best in single player narrative with stunning gameplay, as witnessed by the enormous popularity of both Spider-Man and God of War in this year’s charts. I was just at the Golden Joysticks – God of War won five!

In this particular year, Sony published a few titles of significance that continue to be cited as we move into our usual game of the year discussions. Not only were God of War and Marvel’s Spider-Man critically acclaimed, with the former winning the top award at The Game Awards (the latter being snubbed), but both moved many units and sold quite well.

From Sony specifically, we’ll have to wait and see how the first-party single-player titles they have to offer in the far future will fair. The closest to release is Days Gone, which hasn’t inspired too much hype after several delays.

The Last of Us Part II, Death Stranding, and Ghost of Tsushima will have to meet the bar from the 2018 titles, but with Sony skipping out on E3 next year, it will be a while before we hear anything new about them.