I really don't see this as a strictly MS point of view. EA, Ubisoft, etc are also struggling to deliver the Single Player game without adding in some MP/Loot box DLC attachment.

You can say 'what about Sony?' with Uncharted (another game with MP and DLC attached). Horizon:Zero Dawn - as great as it is, doesn't have the same depth or scale as the Witcher 3 (government subsidised). Fallout now has Mods to 'buy' and ME:A - similar budget to H:ZD, was more ambitious and had a MP with 'Loot box' purchases. H:ZD has a far less progressive upgrade path, far less weapons, side quests etc, far less 'consequence' to decisions etc - its much more 'linear'. Like I said, its a great game but you cannot compare that to the larger RPG games that came out. That doesn't mean that H:ZD was worse before any fanboys get all shirty - its still my GotY so far.

Point is, we may see games like Uncharted as a SP game but their is MP too to subsidise some of the cost - it still came with a Season Pass. Halo 5, criticise it all you want but they offered all DLC Maps free as will SW:BF2 so they have to pay for that work somehow.

I am sure that Nintendo's games like Mario and Zelda are probably big budget games but then they are almost certainly guaranteed to sell, subsidised by re-issues, remakes, purchases of NES/SNES mini, 3DS versions of old Mario/Zelda etc etc. Much like I bet Naughty Dog/Sony are subsidising the cost of SP games from games like Last of Us: Remastered, Nathan Drake Collection (both 2nd and 3rd biggest selling 'exclusives') as well as other remakes/remasters - low cost production games.

This month (Oct), I have bought 4 games - all 4 for Single Player - Forza 7 (I know it has an MP and will no doubt have additional Car DLC), Evil Within 2, Wolfenstein 2 and Assassins Creed: Origins. You could also have bought Shadow of War too.

SP games aren't dead and won't die. Its just that they are 'big risk' with 'small reward' margin titles. It costs a LOT more to build a SP game - paying Actors to do voices and mo-cap action too - sometimes more than 1 actor plays 1 character, script writers, concept artists, story boarders, etc all before you get to actually making the 'game'. Then you have character modelling, environment building, animators etc etc.

An MP game is far easier and can often be 'built' from an existing framework - changing the assets/characters etc and replacing the maps of the previous game to 'new' maps. Its a lower production cost with much easier ways to monetise it - DLC Maps, Season Passes, RNG Loot Boxes etc.

Point is, the cost to build an 'extensive' SP game is much higher and most people - if they even finish it, will only play it once and discard it, trade it in, which then others may buy and the Sales drop off radically. Then you have the issue of making the story 'engaging' for ALL. Not all stories resonate with people, not all characters are received the same way. I know a lot of people who couldn't get into the Witcher, the world he lived in etc and don't understand why I think its the best game this generation - easily the best! Some may say the same about Bloodborne or some other game. How much did the Order cost to develop - 5yrs isn't cheap so I wonder if Sony actually lost money on that game?

Its not as simple as SP games are what Gamers want but how to fund these without taking a loss. H:ZD allegedly had a budget of £40m and if it didn't sell well enough to recoup that, its not like the game had built in micro-transactions - they could have had more outfits - split them down into helmets, tops, bottoms and shoes, maybe 'dyes' to colour them with maybe some 'clip-on' details to the weapons to customise the look of the bows - a mix of animal, robot and/or 'old world' trinkets for example, Different looking Quivers, belts etc - all in Random loot boxes to supplement any 'losses' on trying to recover that £40m and any advertising/promotional costs...

Personally, I much prefer Single Player games but I also understand that a 'decent' SP game costs a LOT more to make and has a bigger risk too. I hope that Publishers find a way to keep delivering these without resorting to underhand tactics.

As for MS, they are keeping old games alive, preserving them for all Xbox gamers - for FREE. Some of these (13 launch OG Xbox games and 4 XB360 games) are 'enhanced' above the 'original' standards. All the OG games are now presented in the full 1080p and the 4 360 games are 9x the pixel count (4k) and 10bit with HDR added for the X. They have a dedicated department to Backwards Compatibility to preserve these games for FREE to its customers - of course that only benefits if you own the games in the first place but its still something they are giving their community. I am not saying Sony don't do anything for its community either etc but just to address some of the negativity.

All MS are saying is that they understand the market, the problems they as well as other big publishers are experiencing with bringing SP games to market. It maybe that Sony have less issue because they have multiple sources of income that offset a lot of that risk - more studio's, big selling console(s), PSN, PSNow subscriptions, money from sales on PSN etc etc so that they can offset a 'game' losing money with big profits on multiple other areas.