There was a time when the word online multiplayer wasn't even part of the video game vocabulary. An illustrious name like Cliff Bleszinski has said that developing a single player campaign, for a genre like first person shooters, costs the developer nearly 75% of the overall budget, running the risk that it won't even start. This reasoning can also be extended to other genres other than shooters, especially to sportsmen and partly also to action games. The way players relate to current productions varies incredibly depending on the generations that approach them.
The widespread diffusion of the internet exploded in recent decades has changed the way of life of all of us a lot, and it was foreseeable that this trend would also extend to video games. Total and perennial interconnection, implemented dramatically by the advent of social media, not to mention the artificial extension of our body which is the smartphone. Many have noticed, since the last years of the PlayStation 2 era, a slow diffusion of the online component in games, of which the pioneers at the time were the Dreamcast by Sega and the first Xbox by Microsoft.
Apart from nostalgic attitudes, it must be emphasized that the implementation of the internet in video games, both in terms of hardware and software, has brought many advantages. Just think of the updates that install new features to the various gaming machines and bug fixing. As often happens, we must also see the downside: in the past, since there was no possibility to release patches on day one, the developers released the game with much more meticulous care than it happens today, for one thing. But let's get to the heart of the discussion: is single player in video games still essential? My answer is yes, but not for the market.
The success of titles such as God of War, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, NieR: Automata, Horizon: Zero Dawn, Super Mario Odyssey, Forza Motorsport 7, Divinity: Original Sin II and others it would be proof that there are still many players eager to experience solo. So anyone who thinks that the future of video games is linked only to the online service is wrong. For many, the single player would not only not die but thrive, still offering the most rewarding gaming experiences today. It is actually not difficult to agree, considering that single player games are still being produced, some are hugely successful and there are many players who love them. The problem is to understand how this means little or nothing if we do not observe the current market trends and, above all, if we do not make a comparison with what the market was up to the previous generation. When it is said that single player is dead, it does not mean that single player games will no longer be produced. 
The truth is that it would be absurd to even think so, given the amount of releases in this way that emerge from the independent scene and from the so-called triple A band. However, observing which titles are most played and which are those that produce the most revenues, there is no doubt that the largest slice of the current market is made up of completely different models, for which the single player exists as a mere accessory. It is not by chance that we are talking about revenues and not about sales, because the latter represent only a fraction, albeit a substantial one, of the video game market.
Activision Blizzard cut the single player from the new one Call of Duty: Black Ops IV to add a battle royale mode and to enhance the game's other multiplayer functions, while the only single player title it will offer will be the remastered of the trilogy of Spyro; Electronic Arts will insert single player modes in his sports and in the new Battlefield, but will continue to focus on online (the model to follow is the series FIFA, it's been years since its single player mode hasn't offered anything revolutionary anymore (except for “The journey”); Take-Two e Rockstar will offer a sumptuous single player mode with Red Dead Redemption 2, but we also bet that it will offer a multiplayer side that will slavishly follow what it has done with GTA V. Solo games will end up taking on a different role from that of the past, because they are now marginalized from the mass market. Translated into other words: I'm no longer the mainstay of the video game industry.
All this does not mean their end. Hardware manufacturers like Sony e Nintendo they have no interest in stopping financing single player titles, which are essential for selling their consoles and determining their identity. All developers and publishers who cannot afford to compete with the online giants will continue to produce single player titles: Nordic, Obsidian, Run, Warhorse o Ninja Theory they will continue to focus on smaller and well-targeted projects, without risking in fields where the investments required in marketing are now beyond their actual possibilities. In addition, the single player will survive among the indies: for many it is the cheapest choice, given the very limited budgets that run. Of course, those expecting single player vitality comparable to that of the PlayStation 2 / Xbox / Gamecube generation or later will be disappointed, because those times will never return. Even those hoping for the repentance of the major publishers will be disappointed, because currently reversing is a perfect harakiri.
If we have the audacity to define video games as works of art, we must however be equally lucid in assuming that they can continue to exist beyond the life cycle of the console for which they come out, and obviously beyond the closure of the online servers. Like a book, a movie or a music album, there are games that can be passed down to posterity as works of art. Timeless works that, while integrating a more or less successful multiplayer component, will survive thanks to their single player campaign. As with many things in life, the right fit is in the middle. No one expects from today's developers the games of the past, focused only on a story to be experienced interactively, but exceeding on the other side, regardless of avoiding creating a single player campaign by virtue of only competitive multiplayer, it seems to me a very simple escape route to maximize earnings with minimal expense, as well as being an operation that does not benefit the image of the industry. Games of this kind can only take refuge in a metastatic dimension, where the space for art and emotions goes gangrenous, limiting themselves to being a mere pastime, frenetic and compulsive, with a precise expiration date.
