Xbox Game Pass can help fund big budget single-player games, Microsoft says
"I don't think it's dead per se."
As the games industry mulls the future of big-budget single-player-only games, Microsoft has suggested one way companies such as itself could fund these types of projects in the future: subscriptions to services such as Xbox Games Pass.
Speaking to Gamespot, Xbox first-party game publishing boss Shannon Loftis suggested subscription fees could help fund new single-player projects.
Microsoft's all-you-can-play subscription service, Xbox Games Pass, is priced at £7.99/$9.99 a month and offers access to more than 100 Xbox One and Xbox 360 games.
Revenue from subscriptions such as this, Loftis said, "helps us put games like that [which are single-player focused] in the market over time."
"I don't think that it's dead per se," Loftis continued. "I don't think that there is ever going to be a time when there aren't single-player, story-based games.
"I do think the economics of taking a single-player game and telling a very high fidelity multi-hour story get a little more complicated. Gamers want higher fidelity and they want higher resolution graphics."
The discussion around the future of single-player games and how they are funded has hit the headlines in recent weeks due to the closure of Visceral Games and the cancellation of its single-player-focused Star Wars game. EA suggested the closure was at least in part due to the changing economics of the games industry - essentially, that single-player games made less money.
Another factor is the rising trend of including loot boxes within games such as Middle-earth: Shadow of War, Forza 7 and Star Wars: Battlefront 2.
Loot boxes have become more prevalent because they make money. Meanwhile, single-player games feel like a dying breed because they are harder to monetise after they have been launched.
Microsoft has struggled with its big budget single-player-focused games this generation. Xbox One exclusives such as Recore, Sunset Overdrive and Quantum Break failed to set tills ringing - don't expect either to get a sequel any time soon. Sony has fared better, meanwhile. PS4 exclusive The Order: 1666 flopped, but Horizon: Zero Dawn, Uncharted 4 and Lost Legacy as well Bloodborne were smash hits.