One of the most discouraging aspects of the modern gaming industry is the almost compulsive need to include an online component of a game, regardless of whether or not it is actually necessary, wanted or practical; studios just seem hellbent on incorporating a competitive element to almost any game, particularly when it enters its second or third iteration. Sometimes, against all the odds, it works: Mass Effect 3 and Assassin's Creed both managed to turn furrowed brows into cracking smiles by managing to nail multiplayer components to games that never really needed them, but gave fans an increased longevity in the process. With Game Of Thrones though, that simply isn't necessary, nor will it work. There is scope for a multiplayer segment to work here, but it would be dangerously easy to get it wrong. Mingle the assassination and stealth elements of Assassin's Creed with the combat mechanics of a game similar to Skyrim or Dragon Age, and Game Of Thrones may just have a chance at competitive multiplayer, but there are simply bound to be awkward moments of floundering your sword about wildly mid-combat as someone else sneaks up behind you and surreptitiously lops your head off. If it can be made to work, to really work, all the better, but it seems highly unlikely.