As a product of the latchkey generation, I played my fair share of video games and have seen a lot of trends, exclusive to the industry, rise and then play out. What I have noticed lately is the fact that video game developers are making shorter games. Just in the past few months I completed Aliens: Colonial Marines in under eight hours, Tomb Raider in about twelve hours, and Bioshock Infinite in just under twelve hours. Max Payne 3, Halo 4, Dishonored, Far Cry 3 and Dead Space 3 also provided short gaming experiences around the twelve hour mark. Why are these games so much shorter? Will players support these shorter games in a market where games providing more content are in no short supply? Who would these shorter games appeal to?
The biggest reason for a brief single player experience is the addition of multiplayer content. A massive RPG, like Skyrim, can supply months of single player adventuring because of the gigantic environment and mountain of content. But games like Skyrim and Fallout appeal primarily to the Gen X “lone wolf” play style. The younger the player, the more accustomed he or she is to the social gaming experience. The younger generations, Gen Y and Millennials, expect a competitive, or cooperative, experience integrated into the games that they play. Developers, naturally, want to cater to the kids that are buying the games and creating the buzz. The result is often an abbreviated single player campaign combined with a competitive multiplayer or co-op. Since devs can only spend so much development time and money on a single title, this is a business after all, this usually turns out one of three ways:
- Dev focuses on MP, but devotes enough assets to ensure a satisfying SP campaign (Halo).
- Dev focuses on SP campaign and tacks on a shitty MP mode (Tomb Raider, Bioshock 2).
- Dev shortchanges both campaigns and serves up a shit sandwich (Aliens: Colonial Marines).
Depending on players to embrace the MP experience can be a risky endeavor. Aftermarket DLC is usually geared towards the multiplayer side of the game, so new map packs or weapon bundles are not likely to attract new players to a game that already failed. Bankrolling a game with a long dev cycle is another risky endeavor, Duke Nukem Forever and Aliens: Colonial Marines were both in development a very, very long time, and failed to provide an adequate return on the investment. Even Tomb Raider, which is a very good game, missed its goal by millions of dollars. In order to turn a profit, the industry must realize that whatever content they decide to provide in their product, has to play well on both MP and SP campaigns. Players can tell the difference between a game that was nurtured and one that was rushed out the door, so focus on quality...jackasses. We’re not buying your shit sandwiches.
According to Raptr, the average amount of time spent playing video games during the course of a year, per person, is 116 hours, playing an average of twelve games. Although my stats were, understandably, much higher than average, I can appreciate the fact that other folks’ time for recreational gaming is limited. Younger players have curfews, extracurricular activities, like sports, and designated play times. Older gamers have work, kids, household chores, and social commitments that prevent them from running their PCs and consoles into the ground night after night. These are the folks that likely appreciate a game that they can successfully complete in a series of short sittings.
The hardcore gamers, while often the most vocal, are not the majority of the gaming population. The folks who are spending the most money on games are the folks that play for a couple of hours on the weekend, and prefer a social experience with friends as opposed to the gritty balls to the wall, raging ogre/nazi/hooker slaying experience that the rest of us crave. They want to play with their kids before bedtime or get in a quick game after work. They don’t stay up until 3am on a Tuesday to finish a thieves guild quest or spend all day Saturday trying to get their character to level 14: they actually have lives. The face of gaming is changing, and if that means shorter games, then so be it. That just means I can play more games this year.
