Forums

Former SEGA and Xbox head Peter Moore speculates that living room TV gaming has become marginal in favor of bedroom monitor and phone gaming, and couch multiplayer has become marginal in favor of single-player and online multiplayer. From an interview published in "Microsoft Will Be Debating Right Now Whether Xbox Consoles Have a Future, Says Peter Moore" by Wesley Yin-Poole:

Peter Moore wrote

And what are we doing? Well, we're not in the living room anymore. We're back in the bedroom with our YouTube influencers, our TikTok creators, and it's about content on demand. And we are going through the same thing in sports. So you're seeing all of these different pressures, if you will, on this next generation that Phil's talking about. Gen Z is coming through and they're going, why do I need to spend four or 500 bucks on a bespoke piece of gaming hardware when I've got my smartphone, or I got my PC or my Mac, and I can do things there with a pretty decent controller?

This caused me to doubt whether supporting a second controller for player 2 is worth it anymore. Does the Master System differ from modern platforms as to whether people are willing to get together and plug in two Control Pads?

These things come and go in cycles. Right now we're at the point in a cycle when in-person multiplayer gaming isn't as common as it used to be. I have little doubt the cycle will change, just as short-play arcade style games faded but have made a massive comeback.

wasnt one of the first launch titles of the current console generation a 2 player game? (Snipperclips was the name?) I mean obviously it isnt as common as it used to be, but thats just change, i love doing 2 player and i think a lot of people still do, i wouldn't be so doomer about it.

I wonder how many families have two children nowadays - but that's a larger topic likely.

I wish I could play multiplayer games offline with my friends, but... well, they're all simply over the internet now. I don't know people offline for this sort of thing anymore.

Honestly, most SMS game players are rarely playing with other people because the density of SMS fans is too low. The exception is when we have meetups and retro events with game competitions, where (as you’d expect) multiplayer games are a great thing. It might be nice to have games that support internet play but doing that on an emulator with games expecting synchronous, low or zero latency interactions requires a lot of work on synchronisation and rewinding time - and I’m not aware of a good implementation of that.

After buying my Wii U last year, I only bought local multiplayer games for it. For me, playing video games is something I usually don't do alone so single player games and online multiplayer games aren't really attractive to me.

It's not a direct answer to the OP question, but my first thought to making a 2 player game was "what will I have to cut from a 1p game to make it run smoothly with 2p!"

This sort of thread has reminded me of how badly I wish I could do a 4 player Cadash game, but that'd need having the two arcade cabinets linked together. Argh. That'd be so much fun.

Nobody's even made a hacked version of the game to play nice with online. Oh well.

No doubt the single player and OLMP genre is big right now (eg Fortnight) but there are still console co-op games out there. Sonic superstars comes to mind.

Gaming will vary household to household, but for my house at least, it's a social experience. There are 2 large screens and 3 consoles (atm) in the main living area. No laptops or consoles in bedrooms.

One thing's for sure; 20+ years on and Peter Moore still has no idea what's coming up next in gaming. He's clearly looking sideways at numbers and what others are doing.

At least the big N had an idea for a point of difference for the Switch, bridged the gap between a portable and console, and are now reaping the rewards.

Author	Message
PinoBatch Joined: 05 Dec 2019 Posts: 56 Location: USA	Is there demand for 2-player games anymore? Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 12:06 am
PinoBatch Joined: 05 Dec 2019 Posts: 56 Location: USA	Former SEGA and Xbox head Peter Moore speculates that living room TV gaming has become marginal in favor of bedroom monitor and phone gaming, and couch multiplayer has become marginal in favor of single-player and online multiplayer. From an interview published in "Microsoft Will Be Debating Right Now Whether Xbox Consoles Have a Future, Says Peter Moore" by Wesley Yin-Poole: Peter Moore wrote And what are we doing? Well, we're not in the living room anymore. We're back in the bedroom with our YouTube influencers, our TikTok creators, and it's about content on demand. And we are going through the same thing in sports. So you're seeing all of these different pressures, if you will, on this next generation that Phil's talking about. Gen Z is coming through and they're going, why do I need to spend four or 500 bucks on a bespoke piece of gaming hardware when I've got my smartphone, or I got my PC or my Mac, and I can do things there with a pretty decent controller? This caused me to doubt whether supporting a second controller for player 2 is worth it anymore. Does the Master System differ from modern platforms as to whether people are willing to get together and plug in two Control Pads?

akator Joined: 25 Aug 2023 Posts: 7	Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 12:39 am
akator Joined: 25 Aug 2023 Posts: 7	These things come and go in cycles. Right now we're at the point in a cycle when in-person multiplayer gaming isn't as common as it used to be. I have little doubt the cycle will change, just as short-play arcade style games faded but have made a massive comeback.

Maztr_0n Joined: 02 Mar 2024 Posts: 21 Location: Dullsville	Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 1:43 am
	wasnt one of the first launch titles of the current console generation a 2 player game? (Snipperclips was the name?) I mean obviously it isnt as common as it used to be, but thats just change, i love doing 2 player and i think a lot of people still do, i wouldn't be so doomer about it.

sverx Joined: 05 Sep 2013 Posts: 3828 Location: Stockholm, Sweden	Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 10:05 am
	I wonder how many families have two children nowadays - but that's a larger topic likely.

Flygon Joined: 30 Jun 2016 Posts: 196 Location: Melbourne, Australia	Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:37 pm
	I wish I could play multiplayer games offline with my friends, but... well, they're all simply over the internet now. I don't know people offline for this sort of thing anymore.

Maxim Site Admin Joined: 19 Oct 1999 Posts: 14745 Location: London	Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 4:53 pm
	Honestly, most SMS game players are rarely playing with other people because the density of SMS fans is too low. The exception is when we have meetups and retro events with game competitions, where (as you’d expect) multiplayer games are a great thing. It might be nice to have games that support internet play but doing that on an emulator with games expecting synchronous, low or zero latency interactions requires a lot of work on synchronisation and rewinding time - and I’m not aware of a good implementation of that.

Calindro Joined: 14 Apr 2013 Posts: 624	Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 5:03 pm
Calindro Joined: 14 Apr 2013 Posts: 624	After buying my Wii U last year, I only bought local multiplayer games for it. For me, playing video games is something I usually don't do alone so single player games and online multiplayer games aren't really attractive to me.

badcomputer Joined: 19 Oct 2023 Posts: 140	Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 6:29 pm
badcomputer Joined: 19 Oct 2023 Posts: 140	It's not a direct answer to the OP question, but my first thought to making a 2 player game was "what will I have to cut from a 1p game to make it run smoothly with 2p!"

Flygon Joined: 30 Jun 2016 Posts: 196 Location: Melbourne, Australia	Posted: Sun Mar 17, 2024 7:06 pm
	This sort of thread has reminded me of how badly I wish I could do a 4 player Cadash game, but that'd need having the two arcade cabinets linked together. Argh. That'd be so much fun. Nobody's even made a hacked version of the game to play nice with online. Oh well.

asynchronous Joined: 14 Aug 2000 Posts: 742 Location: Adelaide, Australia	Is there demand for 2-player games anymore? Posted: Fri Mar 22, 2024 10:16 am
	No doubt the single player and OLMP genre is big right now (eg Fortnight) but there are still console co-op games out there. Sonic superstars comes to mind. Gaming will vary household to household, but for my house at least, it's a social experience. There are 2 large screens and 3 consoles (atm) in the main living area. No laptops or consoles in bedrooms. One thing's for sure; 20+ years on and Peter Moore still has no idea what's coming up next in gaming. He's clearly looking sideways at numbers and what others are doing. At least the big N had an idea for a point of difference for the Switch, bridged the gap between a portable and console, and are now reaping the rewards.

Forums

View topic - Is there demand for 2-player games anymore?