There’s still great single player games getting made. But the sad fact is that they don’t make anywhere near as much money as “live service” type games. Traditional single player games rely solely on the initial sales to make money. Live games like Destiny or The Division and multiplayer games like Overwatch, Fortnite, CoD etc. have a constant revenue stream via micro transactions that end up making huge profits years after initial release. That why traditional single player games are trying to adopt certain aspects of these models. Games like GTA V, Shadow of War, Assassins Creed, Far Cry would once of been straight forward play and put down single player experiences. Now they’ve got micro transactions, live events, timed DLC’s etc. They are trying get a piece of the “live game” pie. Meanwhile traditional single player games like Wolfenstein or Prey get good reviews but are generally considered financial disappointments because they don’t achieve the large sales targets required to justify not having micro transactions. God of War is a bit different because it’s a Sony backed console exclusive. It’s main purpose is to sell consoles not sell games. Sony can afford to risk a financial loss on that game if it sells a lot of consoles as a result. They obviously put a lot more time and money into that game than other publishers would normally put into a game. Because it’s tent pole game. You can bet your ass that if it wasn’t being backed by Sony it would have micro transactions as well.

It all comes down to risk. Online multiplayer games are "safe" because---once successful---gamers keep coming back to them, and you can get them to spend money on cosmetic and other microtransactions. So they generate a revenue stream beyond the intial sale. The "problem" with single player RPGs is they tend to be one-and-done games. People play through them a limited number of times before setting them aside and moving on to the "next thing". As a result they don't produce that continual revenue stream that multiplayer games do. Corporations are like people....they have personalities Some will embrace risk (Guerilla Games, Sony). Others will AVOID risk (EA). Some are all about the money. Others have secondary missions in addition to making money. You see the same thing in the music and recording industry. Just like you can't control the personalities of other people....you can't control the personalities of various corporate cultures. What you CAN do....is speak with your wallet. I believe in rewarding companies that take creative risks. So I bought HZD...and loved it. I also bought God of War 4...and hope to enjoy it too. If I don't...I still think it was worth the risk on MY part to reward the risk the developers took. If we don't reward that risk....all we're going to wind up with is Call of Duty 35 and Battlefield 20.

Capcom ruined Resident Evil after 4.

It's really just EA who thinks that SP games are dead. Hopefully A Way Out shows them differently. Everyone else has a few good SP games in their catalog: Ubisoft: South Park, Assassin's Creed and Far Cry Bethesda: Elder Scrolls, Fallout, Prey, Dishonored, Doom, Wolfenstein Sony: Bloodborn, Uncharted, God of War, Last of Us, Crash Bandacoot, Horizon Zero Dawn, Infamous Microsoft: Gears of War, Cuphead, I got too lazy to list the rest. While some of these games have MP or Co-Op elements, they are primarily SP campaign games.

Reviews from any game "journalism" site mean absolutely nothing.

Great single player games come out every year bud, just because you were stuck on destiny, doesn’t mean they weren’t available. Prey Doom Horizon zero dawn Uncharted 4 Assassins creed origins Far cry 5 Evil within 2 Resident evil biohazard Ori and the will of the whisps Gears 4 Wolfenstein 2 Hellblade Legend of Zelda breath of the wild Super Mario odyssey Fallout 4 Here are some single player games you most likely missed.

How can you call it a success when there aren't any sales numbers? In all likelihood it will sell well, primarily because it's a recognisable ip which's been heavily marketed. But there's a pretty discernible difference between predicting something and stating something which hasn't happened yet as a fact. To your point on linear singleplayer games—people within the industry keep saying they're not sustainable because it's true. Out of all of the games you listed, only two are actually linear titles (and coincidently sold the least) while the rest are Metroid-likes—including God of War 4 (which's now semi-open pathed according to reviewers). Clearly there's still a niche for [i]linear[/i] singleplayer games, but when the demographic heavily favours co-op games and multiplayer games, there's no sense in leaving money on the table by moving in the opposite direction. People need to get out of this delusion that what they like is always the most popular thing. These companies are always going to make decisions in accordance with business acumen, not happy feelings.

What?? More like if you spend the time making a game good it will get good reviews cause the games good. Doesn't matter if it's single or multiplayer quality is quality.

It proves the power of soy

The problem is, people want good singleplayer games, they just don't want to pay $60 for them.

It really bugs me when people say there are no good single player games. I have been playing almost exclusively single player games for the entirety of my gaming career with almost no big gaming droughts.

I loved gow 1-3. With the changes to 4 it reminds me of pretty much every Ubisoft game, far cry series, ghost recon wildlands, a.c. origins and yes horizon zero dawn. Will be picking it up later, maybe on sale.