Oct 05, 2024 12:30:00

Survey reveals that most gamers prefer single-player games

MIDiA RESEARCH, a market research firm based in London, UK, conducted a survey on the types of games that gamers like most. It was revealed that although many games with online multiplayer elements have appeared in recent years, the majority of gamers prefer single-player games.

Most gamers prefer single-player games

https://www.midiaresearch.com/blog/most-gamers-prefer-single-player-games

New Data Shows 53 Percent Of Players Prefer Single-Player Games
https://kotaku.com/survey-data-study-53-percent-gamers-singleplayer-pvp-1851665722

In recent years, 'live service games,' which are free-to-play titles that continuously release content, have become popular in the gaming market. Representative examples of live service games include League of Legends, Fortnite, and Roblox. Because live service games capture a lot of attention and engagement, there are still opportunities in the field, but 'each time a new live service game becomes a hit and establishes its own position, there is less room for new entrants in the market,' MIDiA RESEARCH pointed out.

Many game companies have been working on developing live service games, with Crystal Dynamics developing Marvel's Avengers , EA's BioWare developing Anthem , PlatinumGames developing Babylon's Fall , and Microsoft's Arkane Studios developing Redfall , all of which have been developed at great expense, but MIDiA Research points out that 'all of these have ended in disastrous results.'

MIDiA RESEARCH argues that the strategy these game studios should take is to 'return to developing single-player games that have been successful so far.' As data to support this, MIDiA RESEARCH released a consumer survey conducted among gamers in the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada, Germany, France, Poland, Turkey and South Africa from the first quarter of 2023 (January to March) to the first quarter of 2024 (January to March).

The graph below shows the types of games that users most like by age group (horizontal axis). Emerald is

PVE , purple is cooperative games, dark blue is online PVP , and light blue is single player games. Younger gamers in their teens and early 20s cited online PVP as their favorite type of game, while gamers over 25 years old responded that they prefer single player games. In particular, the tendency to prefer single player games increases with age. On average across all age groups, 53% of gamers prefer single player games.

Based on the survey results, MIDiA RESEARCH wrote, 'Although younger generations place a high value on social play, their lives become busier once they reach their mid-20s. It becomes more difficult to play live service games regularly due to life circumstances, and it becomes more difficult to find time to play with friends. Therefore, if you are targeting gamers aged 25 and over, it is recommended that you develop single-player games.'

MIDiA RESEARCH pointed out that recent examples of successful single-player games include popular IP such as Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda series and

Marvel's Spider-Man , as well as completely new titles such as ELDEN RING and Black Myth: Goku .

A similar survey of mobile gamers also revealed that 58% of mobile gamers prefer single-player games the most. While many mobile games feature multiplayer gameplay and online social features, it appears that these features are not particularly important to many users.

Kotaku, a foreign game media outlet, pointed out, 'This data shows that single-player games are still popular, but it seems unlikely that game publishers will stop developing live service games. Also, like live service games, single-player games are expensive to develop and take a long time to develop. On the other hand, if a live service game can attract a large user base, it can continue to provide service for many years and generate large revenues.'