Hines: Forced multiplayer "a waste of time"

Pete Hines, vice president of marketing at Bethesda Softworks, has issued a stern warning to developers who are contemplating adding multiplayer to games that simply don't need it, saying: "Just drop it, don't bother…it'll make for a worse game."

Speaking to us in the second part of an interview to be published this afternoon, Hines takes an unusual line for a marketing man. Like publishers, they are increasingly drawn to box-checking features like multiplayer, which when done properly keep players from trading games in, build engaged communities and open up opportunities for and anticipation of DLC and sequels.

"[People ask us] for a game like Skyrim or Prey 2, why doesn't it have multiplayer?" he explains. "Well, our question is always the opposite when we talk to a developer. If you're doing multiplayer, why are you doing multiplayer? What are you trying to accomplish?

"If you're doing it just to check a box or because every other publisher says you've got to have multiplayer, then just drop it, don't bother, it's a waste of time, a giant distraction and it'll make for a worse overall game.

"We want the best game possible. If that's a singleplayer game that's 15 to 20 hours, then make that! Don't waste your time on features that don't make the game better."

Hines is not the first to express this view - Gearbox Software's Randy Pitchford told us much the same thing in April - but it is rare to hear it voiced by a senior figure at a major publisher. Asked why Bethesda, unlike most of its peers, is prepared to dismiss attention-grabbing features like multiplayer, Hines turns the question round again: "Why, when we're willing to do that, aren't other publishers willing to do it?"

The first part of our extensive interview with Hines was published yesterday, and the second part, from which the above is an extract, will be live later today.