Single-player games as online

Single-player games as online is a design choice that forces players to connect to the internet despite the lack of a multiplayer component. While a typical fixture in mobile gaming nowadays, this practice has seeped into mainstream gaming. This design choice often results in a single player game having all of the technical issues typically found in an online game.

Examples

 * 1) All Gameloft games released after 2016. This however does not count for pre-2016 games that are still being updated time to time.
 * 2) Asphalt Xtreme
 * 3) Top Drives
 * 4) Diablo III (PC version) The PC version has always-online drm. If you lose connection while playing, the game will take you back to the title screen. Thankfully, console versions can be played offline.
 * 5) Forza Street
 * 6) Mario Kart Tour (pre-version 2.0)
 * 7) Need For Speed (2015) - was widely criticized for its always online nature, which prevents the players from pausing the game.
 * 8) UFC Mobile 2
 * 9) Need for Speed: No Limits
 * 10) SimCity (2013) - was extremely controversial for its always online functionality, which not only caused severe gameplay issues at launch, but most players couldn't even play the game due to the servers being unable to handle the massive player base.
 * 11) Gangstar New Orleans
 * 12) The Crew - Despite having a full fledged single player campaign, you still need to be connected with Ubisoft's servers just to play the game. As a result, disconnecting from the servers while playing will boot you back to the title screen.
 * 13) The Crew 2 - more of the same thing as its predecessor.
 * 14) mh:awesomegames:Gran Turismo Sport - while a good game for the most part, it still requires a constant internet connection for the majority of the game to function; without a connection, only the Arcade mode is playable, and players cannot save any progress made until a connection is re-established.
 * 15) mh:awesomegames:Gran Turismo 7 - The same problem as the previous game. Also days after the first gameplay trailer released, the game originally could progress offline when after the release of the State Of Play trailer, the game confirmed that it requires a constant internet connection to progress the storyline.
 * 16) Sonic the Hedgehog 2 (2013 mobile version) - Again, a good game, but unless you buy the No-ads DLC it still requires a persistent internet connection just to play it in the first place.
 * 17) mh:awesomegames:Grand Theft Auto IV (PC version) - Another good game that needs internet connection just to access your old save files and have the ability to save, Even when the GFWL feature was removed you still need to be connected to the Internet.
 * 18) mh:awesomegames:Hitman: World of Assassination - To save the challenges and progressions, you need a linked account from the respective platform and an IO Interactive account as otherwise deal with limited options of the mission themselves.

Why This Practice Sucks

 * 1) First of all, single player games are not intended to be played with a constant internet connection.
 * 2) This can irritate many gamers, especially those with limited Internet.
 * 3) In some games, servers aren't all that stable which can cause a myriad of issues, including (but not limited to) lag, input delay, and even glitches.
 * 4) For this, a server scandal may occur, SimCity 2013 is a prime example of this.
 * 5) You can't even pause the action in some of these games, which is a major inconvenience if the player has to leave the game for a few minutes. Say for example you're in a racing game, if you pause the game, the car does not stop moving!
 * 6) Some games that require constant internet often tend to hold progression hostage until a connection is re-established. A minor example is Crash Team Racing: Nitro-Fueled, which requires players to be online in order to obtain Wumpa Coins.
 * 7) If the server gets shut down, it will make the game unplayable.
 * 8) On PC, some publishers often sneak DRM restrictions in their games, like Sega did with Sonic Mania (though it's a bug caused by Steam DRM due to Sega not implementing the DRM properly), and Ubisoft with Assassin's Creed II. The excuse is that it's an anti-piracy measure, but it is still a massive inconvenience for the player regardless of whether or not that's a valid excuse.
 * 9) * On top of that the DRM gets cracked way faster than games without DRM, which ironically makes the pirated version superior than the legal version.
 * 10) Updating the game is mandatory.
 * 11) This is somewhat considered a pathetic excuse for developers to sneak in ads that are mandatory to watch thanks to the always-online system. This is very infuriating especially when the game has tons of them.
 * 12) *Not only that, but these games also have microtransactions. The only difference is that offline games' microtransactions can be bypassed through hacking or other exploits, while for online games, attempting to do said tactics renders the game unplayable.
 * 13) *For games with timers, you could literally skip the time by changing the clock, but trying it with online games renders them unplayable too.
 * 14) Stupidly enough, some of these games have offline play added behind a paywall (which is sometimes overpriced) . Most of the time, the buttons somehow depict them as an ad-free purchase.
 * 15) *This proves that the developers are aware of how ads are useless without Internet, and therefore make sure that they slam the players into either way: watch ads or pay for an ad-free experience.

Reception
Whether the game itself is any good or not, the forced online nature often gets criticized for causing issues during gameplay, and for being an inconvenience in general.

Trick
Fortunately there is a way to play these games without Internet. Just simply startup the game, and when the game fully loads, turn off the Internet. This however may not work with all games.