A few years ago, single-player-only games seemed to be a dying breed; major publishers like EA and Activision seemed to have shareholders convinced that always-online live service titles were the future, and, given the homogeneous nature and unmitigated success of titles like Overwatch, Rainbow Six: Siege, and the ever-popular Call of Duty franchise, it seemed like AAA development would forevermore focus on easily-monetizable multiplayer games.

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In spite of this, November 2019 is an oddly incredible month for single-player gaming. Hot on the heels of solo-centric games like The Outer Worlds, Luigi’s Mansion 3, and the Witcher III Switch port comes potentially generation-defining titles like Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order, Pokémon Sword & Shield, the long-awaited PC port of Red Dead Redemption II, and the near-mythical Hideo Kojima-led Death Stranding—and that only covers the first two weeks.

November has historically been the busiest month for game releases; the imposing winter months typically see consumers staying in more often, and the upcoming holidays make having a new game in both digital and brick-and-mortar storefronts imperative for publishers. Barring a major cancellation or development delay—as was the case with Bethesda's Doom: Eternal—bottom-line conscious producers make cashing in on this fruitful season a yearly priority.

That said, the surprising focus on narrative-driven single-player gaming may mark the start of a new trend in the industry. In years previous, online experiences like Fallout 76, Battlefield 5, and Call of Duty WWII headlined the release period, and that tendency dates back to the dawn of PvP online play on consoles. In stark contrast, November 2019 doesn’t feature any marquee online-only games, with gamers’ attention instead focused on releases which, aside from some inevitable day-one patches, won’t require an internet connection to play.

That’s not to say that we haven’t had fantastic single-player games in the recent past; titles like Metro Exodus, Devil May Cry 5, and A Plague Tale: Innocence, among countless others, have pushed the medium of video games in bold new directions and delivered stories that could be said to rival even the most prolific modern-day novels or films. Yet, games of this sort haven’t quite received the same amount of attention as big-budget multiplayer titles have this generation, and it could finally be time for that fad to die out.

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It’s tough to state definitively why this may be the case, but it could be the result of too many once-bitten-twice-shy gamers falling out of favor with hyped-up games that have failed to deliver. Titles like Star Wars Battlefront II, No Man’s Sky, as well as the aforementioned Fallout 76 and Battlefield 5,  may well have soured the reputation of multiplayer-focused games in the minds of consumers. What’s more, with the rise of the Battle Royale genre prompting publishers to push out unoriginal, unabashed Fortnite clones like Apex Legends and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, it could be that players have finally had enough and are looking to move on to more nuanced, varied releases.

While it wouldn’t be fair to state that classic story modes and solo gaming sessions haven’t fallen victim to the blight of undercooked, outright rushed releases we’ve seen over the years—look no further than Metal Gear Survive or the appropriately-titled Agony—it’s definitely less common to see developers shovel out unfinished single-player games than it is to see broken online-only games hit store shelves. It may be a less-prevalent factor, but it could be that the launch-first, patch-later attitude of most live service games have driven consumers toward experiences more likely to be feature-complete at launch.

That’s mostly conjecture, of course, and it could just be that the upcoming slew of single-player titles is nothing more than a coincidence. Still, it’s encouraging to see major franchises and done-to-death, content-devoid live service multiplayer releases take a back seat in favor of some ore original solo-only titles.

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