After years of focusing on multiplayer and live-service titles, industry titan EA looks to once again be turning its focus to delivering solid single-player experiences. The overwhelming success of recent EA single-player games like the Dead Space remake surely play a role in that decision, but the renewed focus on solo experiences may also be a response to gamers who’d grown frustrated with the publisher’s years-long campaign to include a multiplayer component in nearly every release. Although some gamers may have been skeptical when EA called single-player titles “really, really, important” last year, the publisher looks, for now, to be staying true to its word.
Understandably, some gamers didn’t take the iconic publisher at face value when it reiterated its support for solo experiences given recent statements from EA executives that seem to stand in stark contrast. The company caused a stir on social media in 2022 when EA’s official Twitter account posted “They’re a 10 but they only like playing single-player games,” leading to an immediate backlash from players who saw the Tweet as an attack on their favorite pastime. While the company quickly walked back the troublesome Tweet, placing the blame on the company’s social media team, it wasn’t the first time EA had fired shots at solo titles.
EA Proclaims the Death of the Single-Player Game
The recent controversy over its poorly received tweet is just the latest in a series of high-profile gaffes from EA when it comes to the publisher’s view of single-player titles. One of EA’s most infamous snubs against solo titles came in 2010 when the then-president of EA Games declared that single-player games were “finished,” adding that multiplayer and online services were the future of the industry. While these statements immediately drew criticism from many gamers at the time, they also proved to be prophetic as the publisher increasingly devoted itself to adding multiplayer functionality to almost every release, even when it often felt wholly unnecessary.
As EA rushed headlong into its strategy of adding multiplayer or other online functionality to its roster of releases throughout the 2010s, many players began to grow frustrated with the dearth of single-player games available from the publisher. Even franchises that had once been solidly solo experiences fell prey to EA’s online-only focus, with games like Dead Space 3 receiving criticism from players for shoehorning in superfluous multiplayer features. Placing all of its hopes in online titles eventually caught up with EA, though, with the critical and commercial failure of its 2019 live-service game Anthem standing as a clear repudiation of the business model in the eyes of many gamers.
A New Hope for Single-Player Games at EA
Following the high-profile failure of Anthem, EA appears to have had a change of heart when it comes to single-player games in recent years. The success of 2019’s Soulslike Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order and subsequent single-player releases like Mass Effect Legendary Edition showed that, despite what some executives at the company may have thought, gamers were still interested in quality solo experiences. The revitalization of single-player titles at EA has been further buoyed by the success of the recent Dead Space remake and the hype surrounding Star Wars Jedi: Survivor.
This renewed focus on single-player titles doesn’t mean EA is abandoning its multiplayer ambitions entirely, though. Even as the publisher stacks its release schedule with some highly anticipated solo outings, multiplayer and live-service titles are still a major focus for EA. Titles like the recently canceled Titanfall single-player game show that EA still has a soft spot for games with microtransactions and other ongoing sources of revenue.
Whether EA will stay the single-player course or fall back on live-service titles and microtransactions still remains to be seen. But for the time being, at least, gamers look set to enjoy a slate of incredible solo experiences put out by a publisher who, despite its past claims to the contrary, now appears to see a bright future for single-player games.