If you have wondered why more and more games are switching to three-player teams and modes, you are not the only one.
In a Reddit thread from Oct. 3, players discussed the reasoning for games reducing the number of players in gaming parties to three players, which can leave that fourth friend out.
Of course, with FPS releases such as Call of Duty and Halo, four-person parties are somewhat safe from extinction, but in other genres, it doesn’t seem to be the case.
With many multiplayer releases in the last several years, such as Apex Legends, that avoid four-player parties, a question has arisen whether we will see fewer of these in the future.
In a comment on this thread, a redditor claiming to be a AAA game designer gave several reasons as to why this is the case:
- Easy majority decisions. In releases with an option for four-player parties, it is easy to come to a disagreement that evenly splits the party without either of the sides ready to compromise. In a three-player party, whatever two players agree upon, the third has to comply, so disagreements are fewer and far between.
- Lower “participator” syndrome. In parties with four players, each carries 25 percent of the responsibility and impact, meaning that one player may freeload and still be successful. In parties of three, each player holds 33 percent of responsibility and influence, which calls for more skilled and experienced players to try to complete the task.
- Increased dependency/teamwork. In parties with more players, there is less dependency on each other, frequently resulting in players with low impact, or the impacts of players deaths in the game not being as severe. If a player with 33 percent influence and responsibility dies in three-player parties, the other two are in a challenging situation, which increases the dependency between teammates and drives cooperation.
- Less need for “randoms.” We all know how hard it is to get several people to the same place and on the same page. And as the number of people grows, the difficulty increases. Well, in three-player games, you are more likely to have at least one player you are familiar with, and one random. Even if you get a random player, they will likely follow the group and still help the team.
Most of the other players in this thread agreed that these all are great points, reiterating with their experience that it takes more work to cooperate with a larger number of people.
So, some sound arguments exist behind three-player parties getting more popular with new releases. But still, the question remains: What are we supposed to do with that one extra friend who was a regular in four-player parties? We hope that game developers provide an answer.
