In a Eurogamer interview Bethesda's Pete Hines revealed that they didn't want to "force" multiplayer into Wolfenstein: The New Order as it didn't fit with Machine Games' vision for the title.
"We talked to Machine Games about the game they wanted to make and multiplayer wasn't in their thought process," Hines commented.
Hines explained that just because previous entries in the Wolfenstein series included multiplayer Bethesda doesn't believe all of them must.
"We're not going to force it down their throats and say, 'Well, the last games did, so you have to do it.' These guys do cool stuff," he continued. "If you look at The Chronicles of Riddick or you look at The Darkness, those games have a creative element to them that is similar to the things they're doing in Wolfenstein and that's what attracted us to them, and that's what attracted us to their vision of Wolfenstein."
When Machine Games made their plans for The New Order clear Hines said Bethesda's response was "'Okay, run with that.' We're not going to say, 'Oh, we'll find somebody else to do the multiplayer.'"
Bethesda is no stranger to releasing high profile single player games including The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim, Dishonored and Fallout 3. Speaking of Fallout, Hines reiterated his recent comments that fans shouldn't expect news on the next installment soon.
"[We're not] talking about what those guys are up to," Hines said. "They just announced they're moving on to their next project and it is going to be a long while until they are ready to talk. And that's true of all of our studios, whether that's Arkane or whomever. When these guys move off a project – these are not short [development] cycles. You should not expect within a day, week, month, or even a year, that they're just ready to roll out the next thing. It just doesn't happen that fast."
The New Order was announced in May and is set to be released on PC as well as current and next-gen consoles later this year.