I'm not a program developer. I don't make games. I've seen the assets it takes and it's a lot. Usually, the game runs fine and the lowest scores for games come from the characters, story and even game developer or publisher decisions that affect the game.
There are tons of multiplayer shooters, but not enough open world games done well. Open world is all about adventuring out, fighting and discovering.
The best triple A games lately, however, have fallen short. They want as many people to play their product. That statement makes sense for a business. One thing I feel like is stopping them is the lack of two-player cooperative play. Usually co-op can be slimmed down to mean two things: drop-in and drop-out, or multiplayer online. Both of these work but drop-in/drop-out usually means the second-player does not get any rewards for their own game. They just come in and leave and the first player gets the save file saying 100 percent or the legendary weapon for their character.
Online multiplayer opens up so many opportunities! I can play my character online with strangers, connect with my friends and we both have our own separate progress. However, it's always about the bottom line.
Bethesda created "The Elder Scrolls" series and continued the "Fallout" games with their own open world games for players. TES V: Skyrim came out Nov. 11, 2011. They sold over 20 million copies of the game, according to Statistic Brain.
The problem was everyone liked the game, but it very limited due to the single-player experience. They crafted it so well that so many people wanted to share with their friends, myself included. My roommate were sharing a bedroom in a Fraternity house so we stacked our beds, pushed our desks together and we went on for hours and hours playing Skyrim next to each other. But we couldn't play it with each other.
Bethesda responded to the vocal feedback for multiplayer. People even modified the game to include two players in the same world, but it was really flawed. ZeniMax Media Inc., their parent company, saw the potential. Unfortunately, they squashed it by trying to gain a profit from it. ZeniMax created ZeniMax Online Studios, who developed "The Elder Scrolls Online."
This is not what people wanted.
ESO was an MMO you had to pay a subscription in order to play. The game released Apr. 4, 2014 for PC/Mac and June 9, 2015 for Xbox One and Playstation 4. The game lasted a year before losing its subscription on PC and the release for consoles was not subscription based. ZeniMax was not having enough players and customers to justify the subscription service so they opted for a "premium" service that gives players more items, storage, etc. in the game.
Ubisoft's FarCry 4 almost hit the nail on the head as well. It's an open world game with many things to do besides the main story mission. However, when someone joins your game, they become this side character.
No one is able to do the main mission. You can go wherever you want but you can't progress your game. It's still counter-intuitive that there is still no reason to play with a friend.
Fable 2 also did this where the second player could drop in/drop out and could only be a "henchman," meaning they could only select pre-made characters for their avatar. They still got rewards, however. You could do anything in someone's world that you could do in your own except for the real estate aspect of the game.
Fable 3 was not a good game by any means of story or characters, but they finally fixed the multiplayer to include both players' characters and items to be shown. This allowed to players to actually feel a part of someone's game and gave meaning to it. The only downside was Fable 3's panned reviews and mediocre gameplay.
Game developers have tried, but the process for game development is always case-by-case. No one wants to just copy another business plan. If a publisher and developer want a game to be successful, they do need a good story. It's what keeps us playing the game. If a game comes out with bad reviews, it downright affects the sales. First and foremost, the story has to be good. The story sets the context for the environment, world and the people in it so that has to be the top priority.
Bethesda has hit the ball out of the park for The Elder Scrolls series and Fallout. They gave gamers a world they can be immersed in. They just need to fine-tune the multiplayer aspect of the MMO release to be more central on the story and adventures of those game that you already can do.
All-in-all, games are becoming more cooperatively focused. The biggest moneymaker will always be competitive player vs. player, which is not that hard to come by in terms of picking up a new game. There is something to be said when people love these aspects of the game, and yet there still has been no delivery of expectations. I feel like Bethesda and Ubisoft can perfect that medium and make a world we can actively share with people.
What was your favorite coop experience? I'd love to know.
