Platinum Games Third-Person Shooter Won’t Have Multiplayer

These days it seems like every game has multiplayer. Multiplayer isn’t just expected, it has become a given. That makes it all the more noticeable when a game does not have the feature.

Upcoming third-person shooter Vanquish features a protagonist in an armoured suit wielding cool weapons. Third-person shooter. armoured suit. Cool weapons. The game is fast paced and sounds like it would be perfect for multiplayer. Shame it’s not going to happen. Vanquish is a single player experience.

“Vanquish is very intense, full of action. There are just so many things going on,” Vanquish game designer Shinji Mikami told website Eurogamer. “When you take that into a multiplayer environment, then you have to realistically consider shaving a lot of things off and putting them into your multiplayer environment.”

Third-person shooter! armoured suit! Cool weapons!

“It kind of boils down to whether you have the multiplayer but you don’t have that much impact, and end up being like everyone else. Or even below par,” he added. “So that’s the main reason we’re keeping Vanquish as a single-player experience — to deliver the level of impact, the level of detail and the visuals we want to offer.”

This could be some sort of odd way that Platinum Games hopes that Vanquish will stand out from similar titles. Or perhaps the studio doesn’t want to compete with the multiplayer experience from Western developers? The last big game from Platinum Games, Bayonetta, did not have multiplayer. It did have a woman in a full body hair suit with pistols in her high heels. Vanquish seems to have a guy in body armour. With guns.

Video games are expensive. And with the economy the way it is, multiplayer is added value. It enables players to continue playing long after they have finished the single player campaign. Not every game needs it. Not ever game should have it. Though, its absence might mean the difference between purchasing Vanquish and renting Vanquish. Or passing the title over altogether for another first-person or third-person experience.

No multiplayer modes for Vanquish News [Eurogamer]