@Zoglac The logic comes back to being able to sell DLC, which is predominately multiplayer in most games. MP DLC is much easier and cheaper to make, you can produce a few mp maps in a fraction of the time and cost it would take to make a 1 hour single player DLC. You can add skins, weapons or other things really easily and sell them.
The second reason comes down to the preowned market. Publishers hate the preowned market and online passes are wonderful ways to get more money from people who buy second hand. You can't do that with single player only games. A MP mode also discourages renting or buying and quick reselling. If people believe there is some more value in the game via multiplayer, they are less likely to just sell it straight up and further flood the market with used copies.
Of course these are business reasons, strong ones. Some developers have resisted the temptation or pressure. In recent times Metro Last Light and BioShock Infinite have opted to not include multiplayer. Probably at the dismay of the publishers.
I enjoyed journey but after those 2 hours I don't think it was a revolution and I don't think it's something I'll look back in years and say "remember journey, now that was a brilliant game" and wish there were more games like it. Is the length an issue? Not really for me. I think Dear Esther did almost as much as Journey in the same time frame. Both are on on the very far edge of the gaming industry though, with minimal traditional game elements.
Like Flower, it's an interesting and unique experience but I don't think it's anywhere near the caliber of games like ME3, FC3 or Mark of Ninja this year. Although I am slightly pleased that at least dishonored didn't win.
I think if anything, Journey winning GOTY on IGN and Gamespot, as well as Walking Dead winning on Spike VGA says that there really hasn't been big standouts this year and instead there has been a search for indie unique titles
Although Sleeping Dogs didn't really feel like a new experience I found it more enjoyable than Harvey Smith's Blinkathon because of the great melee, driving, story and shooting aspects. Mark of the Ninja is a truly superb stealth game that has far better mechanics and smarter AI than Dishonored.
Bad word of mouth hurt PC sales in the long run for Rage. It's possible to make a profit with PC only development, depending on budget, marketing and quality of release. Hoping the Doom 4 engine is completely different to Rage myself.
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