Who buys shooters for single player?

[Sarah Kerrigan]

This is the reason I bought Modern Warfare 2
I hated the multiplayer. The story was the only reason I wanted it.
Same for Gears, Halo & every other shooter.

 

[Rasputin1]

I actually couldn't agree more. I bought Gears 3 yesterday, and have spent the majority of my time on the multiplayer. It's the whole reason I bought it, I couldn't care for it's story line.

It bugs me when people buy a game purely for the multiplayer. Unless it's Team Fortress 2, Counter Strike or Unreal Tournament you really should take an interest into the story. You'd be surprised at how good some narratives can be these days and it annoys the crap out of me when people like you just glance over them as though they're a chore. Dev's don't spend a fortune on voice actors or script writers or storyboard drafters for nothing.

I bought Gears 3 FOR its story and then to do it again in co-op, THEN to play horde, THEN beast, THEN multiplayer. not 100% in that order but that is the order of my priorities.

I also bought CoD 4 for it's story when it came out, but then bought Black ops for a 50/50 "campaign looks good/I hope they've fixed MW2's broken multiplayer" (they partially did). But unless the game has no singleplayer or the developer distinctly states that said game only exists for multiplayer; multiplayer will always be a second glance that needs to prove it's worth my time.

EDIT: If I buy a new game for its singleplayer, play it and it's so-so, then find the multiplayer tedious; I trade it back in for 70% of it's price (usually). Looking at it that way I would've easily had 30% value out of it anyways.

Y'know what bugs me? The fact you're assuming here I haven't even tried the storyline. "it annoys the crap out of me when people like you just glance over them as though they're a chore" People like me? What? I always give the storyline a chance, every time. I just happen to not care for the gears one because it's bunch of needless dramatics to string together the next gun fight. I'd rather just forget the dramatics and go straight to the gun fighting, I paid full price for the game, surely I'm entitled to that with out "people like you" insisting their precious storyline must not be ignored.

 

[A Free Man]

snip.

The problem most people have with multiplayer oriented games is the price.
A very popular example: CoD vs TF2
Both are multiplayer focused. Both have about the same amount of multiplayer content. CoD has a single player, albeit a very short one that really isn't that good, whilst TF2 doesn't.
Here in Aus, TF2 was $20 when it cost ANY money (Now it is free), CoD starts out at $100.
If you are in America, fine, 20 vs 60, but why is there that much of a price difference? The single player in CoD is in no way good enough to justify $40. Maybe 10-15, but that is still kinda pushing it. Why, is CoD sold at the same price as games with FAR more content than it? (Try Mass Effect as an example, which atm over here is far cheaper than CoD, and has FAR more content).
Multiplayer only games don't get criticised as much if they charge an appropriate price, and advertise the multiplayer instead of the singleplayer, yet very few do. This is the main problem people have with multiplayer only games. I will once again bring up TF2. Do you see many people complaining about it here? No? But its a multiplayer oriented game! It didn't even have a single player! Why aren't people complaining about it? It charged a reasonable price, and didn't try to sell itself as something it wasn't.

Well I don't really agree with the majority of your points. Comparing TF2 and CoD is pointless. As anyone can see that as TF2 is a much older game it will obviously be cheaper then a new game. I'm not saying that CoD is in any way better I'm just saying that as far as demand and supply go more people want to buy CoD at the moment and so it will naturally have a higher price. Price has nothing to do with content, it is based solely on how much people are willing to pay, and since CoD manages to make record sales with the prices it has now, there is no reason to drop them. Also you could make a similar comparison to CoD and TF2 with any new shooter game against an older game.

 

[Joccaren]

Well I don't really agree with the majority of your points. Comparing TF2 and CoD is pointless. As anyone can see that as TF2 is a much older game it will obviously be cheaper then a new game. I'm not saying that CoD is in any way better I'm just saying that as far as demand and supply go more people want to buy CoD at the moment and so it will naturally have a higher price. Price has nothing to do with content, it is based solely on how much people are willing to pay, and since CoD manages to make record sales with the prices it has now, there is no reason to drop them. Also you could make a similar comparison to CoD and TF2 with any new shooter game against an older game.

TF2 vs CoD MW2 or WaW, both of which are >$50 over here still, and far older than TF2.
I understand pricing works on supply and demand, which there is basically an infinite supply in the digital world and a high demand, but the infinite supply is still there, so we pay for content not supply.
Even in stores, where supply is an issue, do you think people care about that? No. They care about the fact that they are getting half a game for an expensive price. If double the time and effort were put into CoD, it would still sell for the same price on launch day. That is what people complain about; getting ripped off by companies. Sure, people will buy it, but they won't be happy that they paid that much, especially not here in Aus.

 

[awsome117]

I buy shooters for single-player :'(

And Multiplayer to.

 

[Dawns Gate]

I'm not too big of a fan of online multiplayer, I like it if your whole team is your friends so you aren't dealing with strangers. I mean, last time I tried to play matchmaking alone I joined a game where someone was sitting in one spot and kept shooting me every time I spawned before I could even move, then everyone proceeded to insult my mother and imply I was a homosexual. I know that it's not personal but people just piss me off. The only time that this didn't happen was back when BF:1942 was 'in the now'.