The sharp-tongued director of It Takes Two, Josef Fares, has recently expressed an opinion that single-player games are too long. Fares’ latest game is a co-op experience, which doesn’t take too much time to complete, but entertains players with unique mechanics and inventive gameplay. This is something that, in his opinion, single-player games are doing far less nowadays.
Prior to its recent release, It Takes Two was featured in a detailed gameplay trailer, which brilliantly sold the concept of a co-op game for couples. The title’s core idea of fixing a broken relationship through collaborative effort was put on display in the exciting video, full of hilarious puns and amazing scenes. Most importantly, the trailer showed that it literally takes two players to solve all the problems and complete the puzzles – unlike single-player games, which can only be experienced solo.
In a recent interview with Inverse, Josef Fares shared a belief that modern single-player games are generally a bit too long. The director of It Takes Two, which is a co-op-only experience, claims that single-player titles take too much time to complete, implying that their gameplay mechanics are being overused and eventually become repetitive. In that stance, the developer finds it incomprehensible that some players want such games to have a high level of replayability. Developers and publishers further promote almost an obligatory idea of single-player titles being replayable, but Fares questions the necessity of doing so. He simply gives publicly available statistics on how many people actually finish such games.
Josef Fares got popular thanks to his hilarious rant during The Game Awards ceremony in 2017 when the game director expressed some disrespect towards the Oscars. That speech came from the bottom of his heart, and it’s no wonder that Fares immediately became a celebrity in the gaming world. Funnily enough, the scene was referenced in Hazelight’s most recent game, It Takes Two, serving as an unexpected Easter egg.
In his usual sincere manner, Josef Fares has raised another uncomfortable question, which might lead to certain shifts in the gaming industry. It is up to everyone whether to agree with what the well-known developer claims or not, but the topic itself is quite intriguing. Interestingly, the official stats somewhat confirm what Fares says about forced replayability and long playthroughs. For instance, only 30% of gamers completed a single playthrough of The Witcher 3, which is arguably the best single-player RPG of the past decade. Even fewer people replayed the title after that, which means that the demand for such an option is not high. Basically, Fares leads to the point that there’s no actual justification for games being long and repetitive if that’s not what the audience really needs. Considering the success of It Takes Two, which is a completely different story in comparison to modern single-player games, the industry could actually take a step toward changes in how story-driven titles are being delivered and perceived.
Source: Inverse
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