Just read the article first. Link-http://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2012-10-02-game-industry-legends-rob-pardo
Now I'm going to try and be rational here please bare with me. The thing Pardo here is missing is that this sentiment of his isn't new. Forecasting the imminent death of single-player games has been going on now for literally a decade.
And yet it never seems to quite happen, does it?
The reality is that single-player games will never go away. Yes, they make less money. Yes, they will (and already have) dwindle in number compared to mutliplayer-focused games.
But to call them an 'endangered species' is simply stupid. It's apparent Pardo is a DESIGNER and nothing more, because anyone with basic business acumen will tell you that as long as there is a demand — even a SLIGHT demand — there will be a market for that demand. And demand for SP games will never go 'extinct', and game-developers with a story to tell in their games that are willing to make profits a secondary concern to artistic-integrity will always be around, if not in great numbers.
Put it this way, if freaking adventure-games can make a comeback right now via developers like Telltale, then single-player games in general are obviously going to be juuuust fine.
The bottom line here is that Pardo is a designer that just wants to justify his studio's profit-focused agenda to himself by imagining they have no choice. This is, of course, a self-serving delusion; a deliberately convenient world-view. It's easier for Pardo to tell himself this lie, rather than man up to the reality that he and Blizzard have voluntarily chosen to be more 'merchant' than 'artist'.
There my daily rant agaisnt the way the industry is now is over.
Now I'm going to try and be rational here please bare with me. The thing Pardo here is missing is that this sentiment of his isn't new. Forecasting the imminent death of single-player games has been going on now for literally a decade.
And yet it never seems to quite happen, does it?
The reality is that single-player games will never go away. Yes, they make less money. Yes, they will (and already have) dwindle in number compared to mutliplayer-focused games.
But to call them an 'endangered species' is simply stupid. It's apparent Pardo is a DESIGNER and nothing more, because anyone with basic business acumen will tell you that as long as there is a demand — even a SLIGHT demand — there will be a market for that demand. And demand for SP games will never go 'extinct', and game-developers with a story to tell in their games that are willing to make profits a secondary concern to artistic-integrity will always be around, if not in great numbers.
Put it this way, if freaking adventure-games can make a comeback right now via developers like Telltale, then single-player games in general are obviously going to be juuuust fine.
The bottom line here is that Pardo is a designer that just wants to justify his studio's profit-focused agenda to himself by imagining they have no choice. This is, of course, a self-serving delusion; a deliberately convenient world-view. It's easier for Pardo to tell himself this lie, rather than man up to the reality that he and Blizzard have voluntarily chosen to be more 'merchant' than 'artist'.
There my daily rant agaisnt the way the industry is now is over.