Last month, comments from Gabe Newell, the CEO of Valve, may have gotten a little blown out of proportion. Then, the CEO talked about the future of his company and said that “Portal 2 will probably be Valve’s last game with an isolated single player experience.” A more recent interview with Gabe Newell reveals that the developer is not abandoning single-player completely, but will be instead adding social elements to their games to make them feel more connected.
“I think what we’re trying to talk about is the fact that, not that we’re not doing single-player games,” said Newell. “Portal 2 is a pretty good example of what we’ve learned over the years and how to create those experiences. It’s more that we think we have to work harder in the future, that entertainment is inherently increased in value by having it be social — by letting you play with your friends, by recognizing that you’re connected with other people — that’s the thing that we’re trying to do, saying that single-player is great, but we also have to recognize that you have friends and want to have that connected, as well.”
“It’s not about giving up on single-player, at all. It’s saying we actually think that they’re are a bunch of features and capabilities that we need to add into our single-player games to recognize the socially-connected gamer. Every gamer is instant messaging — every gamer has all of these different things — so if you pretend that doesn’t exist, you’re ignoring the problems that you ought to be taking on.
“It’s single-player plus, not no more single-player.”
The full 40 minute interview is included below.
