Single Player or Online, which matters most to you?

Hopefully a few developers see these poll results and responses... in particular for me, 343 Industries!

Depends on the genre, obviously, but mostly single player that takes the cake.

Single player. Some people claim that multiplayer games have endless replay value but to me it's always the same. Sometimes there are rare multiplayer games that I play together with friends for a few days (Rocket League or Helldivers were the latest) but that usually gets boring pretty quickly. Even a bad story driven games is more enjoyable to me than repetitive multiplayer nonsense.

Where's the both?

I prefer multiplayer actually, I rather have a friend, or friends, to play with and usually only play SP to kill time. Unless it's a SP only game like Skyrim or Fallout

A ton of people are complaining about Overwatch being only multiplayer and it has a high metascore. Different games, different styles, different players. They all should have space.

The only multiplayer only game that I've invested any real time into is Team Fortress 2. I put around 60 hours into the game, between the Engineer/Heavy/Pyro classes.

Both, and depends on the game. Right now I like MP due to Overwatch but when I do not play that I will like SP from Blood and Wine.

Single player. It's what I've played for over 15 years, so...

I do love me some War Thunder, but that is about it for me when it comes to MP gaming

Single player, I suck at multiplayer.

tough choice, but singleplayer would be mine.

multiplayer games are great, but they're ultimately designed to be repetitive in order to maintain some sort of balance; you generally know how things are going to go because if it doesn't, it means there is an advantage in favor of someone (and that is no fair). It's the competition and/or cooperation that makes multiplayer fun, and the human element of error, reflexes, strategy, and so forth. In other words, the non-game components make the game fun lol.

With singleplayer, it's not so much about balance but making a rich experience. I also tend to be motivated more by story or plot than by scoreboard or kill count.

It's funny because if you look at my play time over the last, I don't know, five years, you'll probably see that I have hundreds of hours in a small amount of multiplayer games (TF2, BF4 specifically), whereas I have hundreds of hours spent in many many singleplayer games.

Honestly the only singleplayer games I get upwards of a 100 hours into are city builders. Maybe occasionally a really good open-world RPG, but that's about it.

Anyway, TL;DR: singleplayer for me

Single player easily.

Played mp/online some years back but quickly soured on the repetitive feel of it. I guess it could be tolerable in short bursts here and there, but I have too many sp games to play and can't be bothered.

Also a lot of the ppl that play these mp type games play the same ones all the time, so just playing a little here and there, you're pretty much gonna get destroyed.

And I don't have any real life friends that play, so there's another reason.

I am voting for single-player, but I think this question would be better suited as "online" and "offline".

I do a lot of split-screen and local multiplayer gaming with my friends and family with games ranging anywhere from Mario Party to Halo, and this is multiplayer, although offline. This is also an important part to me. I was crushed to discover Halo 5 took out this key feature. That aside, I am definitely a single-player gamer as well. With the amount of different games I play, along with other things going on in my life, I don't have the time to devote to just one to become insanely good at it. I'll never be competitive with some of the best FPS players because I'm not willing to put in all that time.

The point here is that single-player can be enjoyed at your pace and you don't need consistent practice to pick up a Pokémon game. You can pick up where you left off. The game world doesn't exist unless you're in it. That seclusion and disconnection is actually part of what I like most about games.

Most people want to play multiplayer games, be it online or, at a lesser extent, local.

Gamers with a deeper passion for games, instead, will most likely prefer single player games instead. I for one want to play not just one single game, but several different ones.

However, multiplayer is the main thing in the present and even more so in the future and I won't be suprised if some time soon all games will feature an online component if not completely reliant on the multiplayer aspect. The next Super Mario may be completely online!

@italygamer:Do you not think it's strange that companies focus on online multiplayer, and the trend right now is slowly increasing in games focusing on online aspects, when the poll here suggests 81% consumers are more interested in the single player/offline aspects of gaming?

Single player, unless you can play with your Steam friends or some such. Playing with strangers can only end in tears.

@numberseven: Maybe I'm just old school, but there's nothing better than a couch, split screen co-op, a pizza & some beers.

Single player, always.

Single Player. I prefer a story and a reason for why the events are occurring in the game.

I veer more towards single player now. Multiplayer's great for sure but the longevity of a good multiplayer game often varies sadly. Single player remains permanently relevant though.

@ryan78134: There's nothing wrong with that, to be sure. I love playing with friends, after all. I think what I mean is that there's negative connotations towards playing games with perfect strangers. Too often in sandbox multilayer games you find random jerks that just want to destroy other people's stuff for a quick, cheap laugh.

To everyone saying multiplayer is repetitive, can't the same be said for single player?

Give me a Titanfall/Overwatch crossover with a single player campaign and you'd have my attention.

@undefined: SP but online makes sense. Create less content, let the players enter an endless carrot-on-stick loop, then release new carrots, and charge for all of them.

Single-player.

I...I think I'm done with most competitive online. And thus far a lot of the 4-player co-op games (Borderlands, Destiny, The Division, etc.) are so. damn. BORING!

I like to dabble in MMO's on occasion but so far that's about the only online time I spend these days.

I'll play zombies online, but if I could only choose 1. It definitely would be sp. Mp can become repetitive.

I prefer multiplayer gaming. SP is boring, scripted, and antisocial.

Single player only

It's been years since I've played online. So, SP.

I personally no longer have enough time to sit around and become experienced enough to play online anymore. I used to love online games but historically, they are the same. If mentioning two online games I have played recently, I would mention Star Wars Battlefront 2 and The Division. I stopped playing SWBF2 mostly for the same reasons others quit but oddly enough, The Division I actually never played much competition or co-op missions. I get the game is online, but I enjoyed the story and the replay value more than anything online could offer. As I get older (33), I have realized my choice in games steer more towards single player modes and I avoid online as much as possible.

Definitely single player for their pacing, characters, and stories and worlds which offer me a different level of immersion and allow me to play at my own pace. I'm always down to play Monster Hunter World for like an hour but the majority of my playtime will be spent playing single player.

But you said that 2 years ago here.

Single player. We often have no internet.

i prefer online ranked games or Co-op games with a friend :) best for me

Very old thread is very old.

As seems to be the vast majority of people here - I'm definitely a Single Player gamer. I've played a few on-line / multi-player type games, but they just aren't for me. My playing style (very slow grinder who likes to check every nook and cranny of every corner) is just not very compatible to most on-line / multi-player type games.

3 years old thread, yikes

Online could go away and I wouldn’t care. I’ve played like hours of online in my life versus non-stop single player stuff every day.

I’m still open to finding something multiplayer I care about, and I do like but hardly ever get to play like Mario party. Loved the crew 1...only it’s actually the best single player racing game ever, which just arbitrarily requires that you be online all the time for the single player game.

im surprised by how lopsided this poll is. and I guess im just adding to that. Singleplayer for me.

I like multiplayer now and again. I think MW2 was the last game i invested tons of time in to the multiplayer, but i poured countless hours playing the SP campaign in different styles. Ill pop in a Battlefield game to get my fix. But for the most part, story driven SP games are my cup of tea

Please don't bump old threads.

-Byshop