God Of War III Director Addresses Multiplayer Issue
God of War IIIWith the huge demand for multiplayer everything these days, games that are built around a single-player campaign run the risk of new-gen alienation.
But if the single-player experience is good enough, perhaps it doesn't matter ('cough' Uncharted 2 'cough'). Developers are aware of the balancing act; just ask God of War III director Stig Asmussen, who says that while SCEA certainly discussed the possibility of multiplayer options in GoWIII, it's not a focus. During a recent GamePro interview, Asmussen compared his game to Resident Evil 5 and asked if we thought the multiplayer there made the experience "better." The interviewer admitted that it kinda didn't, which led to Asmussen's response:
"Hmm, that kind of sets me up for my response, then. I'm a huge Resident Evil fan, but I got two hours into Resident Evil 5, and I wasn't playing multiplayer, either. I stopped playing, which I've never done before. Previously, I've beaten them all. With God of War 3, there's a story we want to tell and an experience we want to deliver, and multiplayer doesn't fit into that.
Does that mean we don't have conversations about multiplayer? No. Of course we have conversations about multiplayer, and there's a lot of things we think about. Imagine two Kratos characters running around at the same time. Once you do that, the story becomes something more about an experience between two players and less about something that we're scripting."
We've said it before and we'll say it again: when you open the door to multiplayer and freedom-oriented single-player campaigns, you essentially cripple the possibility of enjoying a well-written story. A story is linear; constant branching-offs cause almost insurmountable problems from a plotting standpoint. Therefore, SCEA rightly focused on the single-player campaign and story in GoWIII, but Asmussen did say there's a chance of seeing downloadable challenge rooms at some point in the future. That, we can live with.
Related Game(s): God of War III
10/20/2009 12:33:18 PM Ben Dutka
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Comments (43 posts)
bigrailer19
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 12:53:55 PM
the reason the mp is so good though i blv is cus when im playing i still feel like im playing the single player! everything from the single player is there, nothing was catered for and i love it!
but in this case bottom line it still wasn't a must and nor is it a must for GOW!
3 up, 0 down
DIsmael85
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 12:47:17 PM
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12 up, 2 down
BigBoss4ever
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 12:48:21 PM
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2 up, 0 down
bigrailer19
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 12:51:14 PM
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im glad they stuck to their roots! GOW is a single player game and if you write a script as strong as this the focus should be on it, not elsewhere!
Im very happy with Uncharted 2 MP, and they made it fit, by making the mp feel like the single player, not the other way around! When i play cod i play like i would online. when i play uncharted mp i play it like i play the single player! i try and get the experience outta the mp just like the single playere brought to me and it works better for me!
awesome job by naughty dog to make such an epic game and sticking to the roots of what uncharted is, and excellent choice by SCEA sticking to the roots of GOW 3 and its strength in the script!
2 up, 0 down
Daedusian
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 1:00:25 PM
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2 up, 0 down
King James
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 1:10:57 PM
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-----------------------------
GOW3 will pwn all the remainder of PS3 haters out there. Killzone took the 1st shot at em. Infamous "Sucker Punch-ed"...everybody. Demon's Souls kicked off the holiday releases and set it up for...What for it.....Uncharted 2! U2 knocked out the doubters and the oblivious. Uncharted 2 is so good the xbots are in denial, and the competition/general public are blown away. GOW 3 will clean up the rest. Then...G...T...5!
Game, Set, and Match!
Last edited by King James on 10/20/2009 1:11:39 PM
5 up, 0 down
BigBoss4ever
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 3:48:29 AM
Last edited by BigBoss4ever on 10/21/2009 3:48:41 AM
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gumbi
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 1:29:51 PM
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I'll admit though, I'm not on this bandwagon yet. I don't understand this generation's obsession with multiplayer. Games don't NEED multiplayer to be good, in fact many of the best games I've ever played are single player games. Oh well, guess I'm just getting old.
4 up, 0 down
Zorigo
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 1:57:49 PM
0 up, 0 down
Gow49ers
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 1:31:38 PM
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0 up, 0 down
Zorigo
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 1:53:10 PM
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1 up, 0 down
NoSmokingBandit
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 2:17:11 PM
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God of War is a one player game. It is Kratos against Olympus. One man against the gods. There is no logical way to add multi-player to this.
Just give me a solid campaign and i will be happy.
3 up, 0 down
inkme101
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 2:18:53 PM
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0 up, 0 down
mexgeo86
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 2:25:27 PM
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0 up, 0 down
Aftab
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 2:28:34 PM
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LowKey
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 2:29:36 PM
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2 up, 1 down
Oxvial
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 2:44:08 PM
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GOW multiplayer seriously the concept its just bad.
just make single player campaign more big that's all the REAL GOW fans need.
3 up, 1 down
bigrailer19
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 3:20:27 PM
i agree i would have rather had a longer single player (and thats not saying its short, cus it was epic). but in regards to the MP they did an excellent job!
the MP feels much like im playing the single player, and i praise the game and epecially ND for that effort in doing this! it works great, plays great, and im constantly reminded i am actually playin something that feels like Uncharted, while playing the MP, instead of something that was just tacked on!
i do agree though alot of games dont need MP nor did Uncharted 2, and neither does GOW so it may be best just to leave it out of GOW 3!
Last edited by bigrailer19 on 10/20/2009 3:23:35 PM
1 up, 0 down
Scarecrow
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 2:51:54 PM
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Sony takes the lead again!
and yes fu** multiplayer!
0 up, 0 down
Juanalf
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 3:03:35 PM
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1 up, 0 down
AshT
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 3:07:00 PM
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I wud have got uncharted 2 even if there was no multiplayer, although its a welcome addition.
2 up, 1 down
FlyingKickPunch
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 3:23:36 PM
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i agree that god of war should stay single player, but just think about this. kratos deathmatch. you could damage the other people till the qte icon came up then rip out their intestines and choke them to death with them...just a thought!
1 up, 0 down
johnld
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 3:24:15 PM
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2 up, 0 down
JackC8
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 3:28:08 PM
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2 up, 0 down
jaybiv
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 4:39:23 PM
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1 up, 0 down
kirobz
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 6:02:41 PM
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2 up, 0 down
Nynja
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 6:55:27 PM
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Some games just were not designed for multiplayer. Throw in some leaderboards (which I actually hate because it shows me how terrible I really am) or possibly a co-op challenge room with Nariko as a special guest. I honestly cannot see any multiplayer mode work well with God of War.
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Nynja
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 7:02:01 PM
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Robochic
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 7:29:33 PM
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2 up, 0 down
BigT_1980
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 7:59:07 PM
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1 up, 0 down
sha4dowknight05
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 8:11:45 PM
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1 up, 0 down
godsman
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 9:37:52 PM
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0 up, 0 down
___________
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 2:20:00 AM
or they could have say 60 V 60 59 players on each team are skeleton army and 1 on each is kratos, each team has to protect their kratos while destroying the other teams.
like what dark sector did.
i would like to see MP added to GOW, but after its out that way im assured its taken nothing away from the SP campaign.
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Banky A
Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 10:29:01 PM
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___________
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 2:14:34 AM
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thats why almost every game that had no MP now has MP with its new version.
bioshock was the best game in 2007, bioshock 2 has MP and was delayed because of it.
uncharted was another great game in 2007 it had no MP, uncharted 2 had MP.
if i remember right GTAIV was the first GTA game to include MP.
GTA 1,2,3 vice city, san andreas, liberty city, liberty city stories, vice city stories.
all perfect games, loved every single one of them to death, GTAIV comes along and screws the franchise up completley.
im really worried bioshock 2 is going to suffer the same fate.
while i agree with you stig, it looks like were out numbered.
i wont be surprised soon if SP mode in games disappear completley and were forced online with games like MAG or warhawk.
im still really disappointed neither had a SP mode, especially MAG would of been cool.
could of tied me over till zipper go back to SOCOM.
why sony let them slide away from socom ill never understand.
but than sony has always abandoned its mascots.
crash for the ps1.
sly cooper and J&D for the ps2 along with socom, mostly socom.
the only mascot sony has stuck by is R&C.
oh, what i would give to have another crash bandicoot game made by the one and only naughty dog.
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fadin_illusion
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 2:56:11 AM
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Starchild
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 6:00:41 AM
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telly
Wednesday, October 21, 2009 @ 8:20:13 AM
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Wage SLAVES
Thursday, October 22, 2009 @ 5:56:41 AM
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Cavan
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Tuesday, October 20, 2009 @ 12:47:00 PM