How can games stay "non-intrusive?" Developers weigh in
As the game industry becomes bigger, so do the games. The introduction of massive live-service multiplayer games has had a seemingly insurmountable impact on the video game landscape. Truly enormous games like Fortnite, Destiny 2, and PUBG promise a constantly evolving experience, adding new elements on an ongoing basis.
Consider Fortnite’s battle pass, which includes daily and weekly challenges that encourage you to return each day for experience points and other in-game rewards. From in-game ads and frequent DLC releases to battle passes and microtransactions, games demand more of players' attention and free time than ever before.
Single-player games feel few and far between. The video game world seems to be slowly but surely leaving smaller games behind—is there any hope for the non-intrusive game? You know, those games that aren’t trying to push anything on their players, games not made to last for months or years on end. It’s not just huge-scale video games that are guilty of being intrusive, as even small mobile games copy the same intrusive tactics.
Where have the non-intrusive video games gone?
If one of 2022’s biggest games has anything to say about it, there’s still hope for non-intrusive video games. Wordle, everyone’s favorite word puzzle game, gives players six chances to guess one five-letter word per day. It demands just a few minutes of your day, and nothing more. It makes no effort to make you keep playing after the credits roll.
Do games like Wordle show there's still commercial interest for games that you can easily dip in and out of? We checked in with an array of indie developers leading a return to less intrusive, less demanding games.
When it comes to these creators making genuinely non-intrusive games,
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