Bethesda Softworks vice president of marketing Pete Hines is critzing publishers and developers who shoehorn multiplayer into their games that doing such a thing is “a waste of time” and advises, “Just drop it, don’t bother…it’ll make for a worse game.”
In an interview with Next Gen BIZ, Hines states that using online multiplayer as a tool to prevent used game trade-ins and rental simply doesn’t work, and robs developers of valuable man-hours.
Hines stated:
“(People ask us) for a game like Skyrim or Prey 2, why doesn’t it have multiplayer? Well, our question is always the opposite when we talk to a developer. If you’re doing multiplayer, why are you doing multiplayer? What are you trying to accomplish?
“If you’re doing it just to check a box or because every other publisher says you’ve got to have multiplayer, then just drop it, don’t bother, it’s a waste of time, a giant distraction and it’ll make for a worse overall game.
“We want the best game possible. If that’s a singleplayer game that’s 15 to 20 hours, then make that! Don’t waste your time on features that don’t make the game better.”
The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim and Prey 2 are two Bethesda properties that will lack multiplayer, but one of the tools to encourage games to keep both games will be downlodable content and, even more important, good communications with the game communities and nurturing the fandom for both games.
Paul should stay because he loves Amibos and there’s nothing like collecting them. Can’t wait for Disney Infinity 3.0 and please, please, please stay, Paul. We need you!
Great long episode with many topics to respond to!
@Gamergate at E3: I agree with Paul women have been in gaming since their was video games. I’ve grown up with Rosella of Daventry, Laura Bow (From Dagger of Amon Ra and Colonel’s Bequest), Final Fantasy 6’s Terra and Celese, Crono Trigger’s Luca, Ayla and Nadia/Marle, Jill of the Jungle, Chell from Portal, etc. The list of characters goes on and there are many of those available online, not to mention all the games that allow you to choose your gender. So really there shouldn’t be any of this “worry” or “hesitation” when games with female leads do fine.
Also in Fallout 3 you can play female, here’s my daughter’s character Stella:
http://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=469288564
I made an error on last episodes comments I meant that Fallout4’s Boston will be 2x the size of Skyrim and was commenting on Jonah’s feeling burned out on huge Open world games.
While still on the topic of Fallout Paul I’m sorry if you feel snubbed but you made your disdain of the series pretty clear, I didn’t think you would be interested at all.
I’ve never liked this mentality and have rebelled against the idea that hardware should be replaced after 2 years. I know my Nes and Super Nes lasted MUCH longer than 2 years.
@QotW: I think Nintendo should represent it’s self, I would still want to know what games they are working on for current hardware.
Great and entertaining episode guys!
This is the first time I’ve written in, and I just have to ask this of Paul: which are you more into, Disney or My Little Pony?