BIG BAD WOLF

A UNIT FORGED IN HARDSHIP THAT WOULD PROVE TO LAST DECADES

Jens Matthies is laughing somewhat incredulously. Although his clothes are casual, his body language is guarded. It’s QuakeCon 2017, and I’ve just told the creative director of MachineGames that some people are saying single-player games are dead. “People,” he retorts. “What people?”

“People in the industry,” I suggest, unconvincingly. And so Matthies continues to laugh. I’m not sure what kind of response I expected: He and his team have bet their careers on the argument that single-player games are very much alive. That