The earliest video games, such as
Tennis for Two (1958),
Spacewar! (1962), and
Pong (1972), were symmetrical games designed to be played by two players. Single-player games gained popularity only after this, with early titles such as
Speed Race (1974) and
Space Invaders (1978). The reason for this, according to
Raph Koster, is down to a combination of several factors: increasingly sophisticated computers and interfaces that enabled
asymmetric gameplay,
cooperative gameplay and story delivery within a gaming framework, coupled with the fact that the majority of early games players had introverted personality types (according to the
Myers-Briggs personality type indicator). Although most modern games incorporate a single-player element either as the core or as one of several game modes, single-player gaming had been viewed by the
video game industry as peripheral to the future of gaming, with
Electronic Arts vice president Frank Gibeau stating in 2012 that he had not approved one game to be developed as a single-player experience. The question of the financial viability of single-player
AAA games was raised following the closure of
Visceral Games by
Electronic Arts (EA) in October 2017. Visceral had been a studio that established itself on a strong narrative single-player focus with
Dead Space, and had been working on a single-player, linear narrative
Star Wars game at the time of the closure; EA announced following this that they would be taking the game in a different direction, specifically "a broader experience that allows for more variety and player agency". Many commentators felt that EA made the change as they did not have confidence that a studio with an AAA-scale budget could produce a viable single-player game based on the popular
Star Wars franchise. Alongside this, as well as relatively poor sales of games in the year prior that were principally AAA single-player games (
Resident Evil 7,
Prey,
Dishonored 2, and
Deus Ex: Mankind Divided) against financially successful multiplayer games and those offer a games-as-a-service model (
Overwatch,
Destiny 2, and
Star Wars Battlefront 2), were indicators to many that the single-player model for AAA was waning. Manveer Heir, who had left EA after finishing his gameplay design work for
Mass Effect Andromeda, acknowledged that the culture within EA was against the development of single-player games, and with Visceral's closure, "that the linear single-player triple-A game at EA is dead for the time being".
Bethesda on December 7, 2017, decided to collaborate with
Lynda Carter to launch a Public Safety Announcement to save single-player gaming. A few years later in 2021, EA was reported to have revived interest in single-player games, following the successful launch of
Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order in 2020. The company still planned on releasing live service games with multiplayer components, but began evaluating its IP catalog for more single-player titles to revive, such as a remake of the
Dead Space franchise. Around the same time, head of
Xbox Game Studios Phil Spencer said that they still see a place for narrative-driven single-player games even though the financial drivers of the market tended to be live service games. Spencer said that developing such games with AAA-scale budgets can be risky, but with availability of services like
cloud gaming and subscription services, they can gauge audience reaction to these games early on and reduce the risk involved before releases. ==Game elements==