It’s been a huge point of argument this generation: Is the desire to implement multiplayer modes into traditionally single-player games hurting those games? For EA’s Frank Gibeau, he’s made it a point not to approve any projects that don’t feature multiplayer or some other form of online connectivity.

In a “Cloud Gaming Prospects for 2012″ PDF for the Cloud Gaming USA conference to be held later this month, Gibeau said the following as part of a response to a question asking what he sees as key growth areas going forward for EA:

“We are very proud of the way EA evolved with consumers. I have not green lit one game to be developed as a single player experience. Today, all of our games include online applications and digital services that make them live 24/7/365.”

If I may speak personally for a moment—I like my games to be the best games they can be. What that means for each game is different, but the fact of the matter is that for some games, that will mean having no online component. Sometimes, you can add multiplayer options to a game that you’d never think needs multiplayer, and it turns out fabulous—franchises like Grand Theft Auto and Uncharted are perfect examples of that for me.

However, not every great single-player experience can have a worthwhile multiplayer mode added to it—I consider that to be simple fact. If a fantastic single-player game is denied support or release due to not having any form of multiplayer, then I see that to be a disservice to both fans and consumers—and not necessarily something to brag about.

I can’t directly attack EA for deciding that that is the direction that they want to go with their gaming efforts, but it’s not a direction I want in this industry. I also might point out that I’m not really happy about such a policy coming from a publisher notorious for taking down support for the online portions of their games.

Source: Cloud Gaming Prospects for 2012