Yeah, that's true.
If anyone caught a glimpse of the Southtown Ranbat, they did a King of Ralf tournament. They only played in single mode and all they did was play Ralf. Now, hilarious as the commentary was, it gave them the ability to see how someone who is going into a character with no experience, going into KOF with no experience other than basic game knowledge, can fair with the character.
I think making use of single mode is key. The thing is that a lot of games have a system where a single character is important to the match. Only in KOF or Marvel do you need to learn simultaneously 3 characters. In Marvel, I feel it's more streamlined because you are essentially fighting 3 characters at the same time rather than 3 separate fights.
With single mode, it gives people a chance to focus on just one character and give them that satisfaction of knowing they're getting somewhere.