Singleplayer separate from Multiplayer (a possible new trend beginning)

[Scoobes]

TWRoO said:

Scoobes said:

Seece said:

butcherknife said:

Seece said:

So $60 for Single player, and $15 more for the full multiplayer? Or cheaper retail pricing?

Cheaper retail pricing...maybe $30 for singleplayer, $30 for multiplayer...or $45 for singleplayer, $15 for multiplayer...I dont know. 

Exactly what have Sony got to gain here? a $30 retail game wouldn't earn Sony much at all, $45 is a big drop down from $60 as well.

There's the possibility they'll bring in new customers who only play the single player or multiplayer component and therefore don't want to pay a full $60 for only a half the experience the full game offers. Normally, these players would wait until the game goes to platinum/bargain bin when they wouldn't get as much return anyway.

For instance, can you imagine if someone only wants to play single player Call of Duty? Paying $60 for only 4-5 hours of campaign is ridiculous.

The cost of creating the game can't be split right between whatever SP and MP experience is in the game though, most of the stuff created for a full game is shared, so splitting it into 2 games would not result in a significantly cheaper price for someone buying just SP or just MP.

Of course in the knowledge that they (the developers) are basically creating two seperate games, the single player version of something like CoD wouldn't be so short.

Art assets and models are shared. Some basic level areas may also be shared. However, the time and other resources devoted to each section can be split. Costs concerned with AI development and voice acting can be largely attributed to Single Player for instance.

Not that it matters either way. The cost of only a single player or multi-player game compared to a full package is still going to be significantly less. Even if they're each (SP/MP component) $40-45, that's still a $15-20 saving to buying the whole game new. That's a customer that may not have normally bought the game full price. If that customer does later decide to buy the other component then the publisher gets more money overall. That's how I see publishers working a system like that anyway.