Piranha "would love" single-player for MechWarrior Online

"I'd love to see a big, new ten-hour single-player campaign for MechWarrior," Piranha Games co-founder Russ Bullock said during GDC Online. He's assuredly not alone on that wishful thought -- the MechWarrior franchise's bipedal chunks of armageddon typically came with colony and clan warfare. But speaking to Rock, Paper, Shotgun , Bullock cited the industry's "really tough" expectations for including worthwhile single-player as the primary reason for keeping the action multiplayer for now.

"I think we'd all love it," he said. "I just think that it's really tough. The industry has made that tough. You know, what people expect today for a single-player game [is much more complicated than previous MechWarriors]. I've almost at times lost ties with some of my friends that the current state of the industry is almost the death of the single-player game. Now, it feels like unless it's the latest Call of Duty, Halo, or Assassin's Creed -- each publisher may have one brand they put that kind of money into to make that single-player experience -- [it's a huge risk]. I mean, it costs tens of millions of dollars to make a good single-player campaign now."

Barring a full campaign addition, possible PVE encounters on a smaller scale was also a feasible solution suggested by Bullock. "That's a half-way step of giving players the opportunity to play against AI with friends," he said. "And after that, you know, we'll see where things take us."

MechWarrior Online's planned open beta was stalled due to stability issues. Still, the powerful pounders we saw looked mightily pleasing.