According to Peter Moore offline only games are off the table at EA from now on.

EA COO Peter Moore has stated at Gamescom 2013 last week, "We don't ship a game at EA that is offline." Speaking to Engadget , he said, "It just doesn't happen," and emphasized "we don't deliver offline experiences."

Here is the source article: http://uk.ign.com/articles/2013/08/26/ea-we-dont-ship-a-game-at-ea-that-is-offline

From the wording at the end

Speaking about FIFA and Battlefield, Moore expressed that both franchises "have free-to-play options depending on where you are in the world.... The ability for you to be able to interact with those franchises on a free-to-play basis has got to be part and parcel to every major franchise we do now." He continued to say this is "very important to Electronic Arts" regardless of "how much money you've got in your wallet and where you are in the world."

I was left the impression that EA is thinking of going the direction of Activision Blizzard, and charge for a membership to some elite online service for some of their games, for example Madden and FIFA, similar to Call of Duty Elite. Although it is true that there is the microtransactions model system implemented in the last FIFA and Mass Effect 3 in effect.

What do you think of this? Is it confirmed that next gen will be all played online?

What about Dragon Age? if I have to be online to play it singleplayer there is no way in hell I'm buying it.

It's because EA is too cool for single player school.

What a load of crap....

Same here, I think these talking heads at EA don't fact check anything before spewing it out. I feel sorry for all the hard working employees at EA, because stupid people like this end up portraying a terrible image.

Isn't there going to be multiplayer in that?

If it doesn't have online, they can't sell you DLC with micro-transactions. And they can't enforce an online drm. So, DUH.

True enough. They certainly make it sound like they are forcing online at all times with their statement though.

"we don't deliver offline experiences.""

Wonder what Bioware will do with Dragon Age 3.

I wish people would stop dumping money into free to play games, I understand why it's appealing to the publisher, but it seems really short sighted and detrimental to the industry over all, there is a limit to how many free to play games can actually work and I think that number is much lower than the number of games that I enjoy now, and it greatly restricts the types of gameplay experiences they can deliver.

Dragon Age Inquisition has a multiplayer mode.

That's what I think they mean - they're not going to ship anything that doesn't have some form of online interactivity, not that you have to be online to play whatever they ship single-player. Battlefield 4, Dragon Age 3, and (presumably) Mirror's Edge 2 will all have offline single player components.

Also, considering that Bioware shipped ME3's good multiplayer, I want to know what DA3's is.

People still mad 'bout Mass Effect 3, I reckon.

Dragon Age: Origins was an online experience. Just about every EA game made in the last several years was an online experience. That doesn't mean you have to go online to play it, it means that it has online functions so it is not an 'offline experience'.

@believer258: @brodehouse: Fair enough, I didn't think of it that way.

Bingo. Can't believe it took this long for someone to mention this.

@believer258: @brodehouse: Fair enough, I didn't think of it that way.

Bingo. Can't believe it took this long for someone to mention this.

Oh boy I sure can't wait for that sweet Mirror's Edge 2 Multiplayer that everybody always wanted.

Oh boy I sure can't wait for that sweet Mirror's Edge 2 Multiplayer that everybody always wanted.

Mirror's Edge 1 had multiplayer. Wasn't simultaneous, but it was an online game.

Honesty it just seems like business as usual at EA right now. They want a online pipeline to keep people playing and spending money. The only real problem i have is games like dragon age, mass effect, and dead space most likely wont be the same again, which is sad.

Huh, well uhhh...I'm an idiot. Sorry

I think we would need to have some type of proven history with EA to jump to conclusions about online requirements for single player experiences... oh wait...

It can mean that, but it can mean tacked-on multiplayer, or co-op.

Why release a great single player game when you can release a game with both mediocre single player and mediocre multiplayer??

Is there any game that is completely offline at this point? I mean online could be something as simple as leaderboards.

EA has been saying this for years. Stop pretending it's a new policy for them.

Even Gone Home has competitive multiplayer =/

Ugh... this can't bode well for Mirror's Edge 2 :(

This is why I've pretty much stopped buying EA games.

Dragon Age would connect you to the BioWare servers upon starting the game. Doesn't necessarily mean you have to always be online.

I hope this is simply bad context, as in the won't create any more games that don't have some kind of online feature.

'Cause the 24 hour check-in debacle with the Xbone should have proven how effective requiring a constant internet connection is in pulling in customers.

LOL

Well...Mirror's Edge 1 has time trial leaderboard stuff...

No, Peter. I will never install Origin on my PC. You can't make me!

Awesome. I can save money not buying EA games. Seriously I rarely play games online anymore. I just don't have the time to commit to finishing a campaign with people. Sure I miss the days of playing Quake & Half-Life online in fragfests but single player games are more my thing now. And for online games with a really short single player campaign, I'll wait for clearance prices.

Oh well, there are many developers in the sea to make single player games, and I am sure there will be some fun experiences coming from this. And when EA eventually takes this too far and decides to "focus on the single player experience" a couple years down the line, we will be right back to step one. And if they dont, then we will all probably be on board with the idea anyway.

This simply means that all of their games will have an online aspect to em guys. I dont see how you cant see that? No one complained about Mass effect 3 having multiplayer; hell, it ended up being pretty damn fun.

More experiences like SimCity? Oh, joyous days ahead.

it's because SP only games dont hold their value for long then get sold for cheap which means less people buying new copies, less people getting wrapped up in dlc, and generally being less popular among non-hardcore gamers.

I generally have a hard time dropping full price for sp only games, no matter the title other than a large scale RPG.

More experiences like SimCity? Oh, joyous days ahead.

Exactly.. EA is a genius!

Whatever floats your boat, EA. This is not a wise decision to make if you're looking to market trends and sales numbers as related to multiplayer featured vs. single player only games as point of reference. Single player games still sell huge if they're good. Seems like a really weird hard line stance to take. This business of pushing the consumer in directions it doesn't necessarily want to go (micro transactions) is folly. You disenfranchise the consumer enough, your sales go down. Way down if you see the start of the decline and fail to -or obstinately refuse to- course correct.

Seeing how I'm constantly online at home when playing games, this really doesn't bother me anymore as much as it used to...and it definetly wouldn't bother me, if every developer/publisher could guarantee, that their services are always reliable and that I don't have to queue for half an hour to play the single-player portion of the game. That and giving me the option to turn off/hide all that socializing bullshit, since I'm sure that would slither it's way into the SP-portion as well. "Looks like your friend defeated this boss faster than you! Want to re-try and see if you can beat his time?!"

Offline is dead. I'm still hoping the Xbox One reverts to an online only console sometime in the future. Catering to those who are afraid of modern technology / progress is just dumb. Good for EA.

Your blind faith in these new and big directions that have proven nothing but troublesome and tend to crash and break down more that a wrecked car, because nobody knows how to fucking pull them off and execute them in stable and efficient ways, amazes me.

Good for EA for doing what? Were you even alive during the SimCity debacle? Do you want that to become a standard experience?

A Microsoft or EA suit can talk about the "online future" until their tongue drops off, doesn't mean the actual execution will be good, they all fuck it up and ruin our time.

This being from the same EA who close servers within a few years....

I don't think it necessarily means that multiplayer will be added to all their games, it just means that all their games would require an online connection. I look at it as having to connect to an EA/Origin account online like when I had to log in to your account to play my Dragon Age: Origins save.

Don't they mean they just don't ship a game that doesn't have multiplayer?

I think a Mirror's Edge 2 multiplayer could be cool, something like Spies vs. Mercs but with Runners vs. Cops in big and open rooftop environment.