It feels like so many games these days are built around online multiplayer, rankings, and competing with other players. While playing with friends can be fun, sometimes you just want a good single-player game with an interesting story that you can enjoy at your own pace without needing an internet connection.

Do you think the gaming industry is focusing too much on multiplayer, or is that simply what most gamers want these days?

Multiplayer games generate more revenue. However, I don't feel like there's been a massive lean towards online gaming. There are great singleplayer games getting released pretty frequently, and they generate a lot of income for the developers too.

Remember when you could just buy a game, take it home, and actually enjoy the whole thing?

Now it feels like half the gaming industry is more interested in squeezing every last dollar out of players than making a decent game. Microtransactions, battle passes, premium currencies, loot boxes, paid skins, and endless DLC. It's like buying the game is just the admission fee to a store that never closes.

And don't even get me started on games deliberately designed to make progressing painfully slow unless you open your wallet.

I miss when unlocking something cool meant you actually accomplished something in the game, not that your credit card worked.

Don't get me wrong, there are still some fantastic games out there, but sometimes it feels like gaming has gone from being about entertaining people to figuring out how much money they can milk out of them.

Anyone else miss the days when you paid for a game ONCE and actually owned the whole thing?

Yes. Micro transactions in online games is a double whammy too.

Pay for Game

Pay to play online

Pay for battlepass

Pay for add-ons (skins, characters, etc)

It’s a money making machine.