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  1. #1

    What happened to the RTS genre?

    I grew up with games like Command and Conquer, Total Annihilation, Homeworld, Starcraft, Warcraft, and Age of Empires. For the past several years this genre seems to have experienced a great decline. What happened? Who here misses this genre? I would love to see at least one big budget RTS with a good campaign with a awesome story and cinematic cutscenes.

    Homeworld: Deserts of Kharak looks interesting.
    Last edited by CmdrShep2154; 2016-01-11 at 08:09 AM.

  2. #2
    Act of Aggression is a good one. Grey Goo was okayish.

  3. #3
    Scarab Lord Lothaeryn's Avatar
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    The MOBA Genre happened, people got obsessed over DOTA from Warcraft III's modding scene, combined with publishing companies killing off most RTS developers like Westwood Studios pretty much dried out the RTS genre because no one wanted to develop for it anymore. Not to mention there was this odd stigma that RTS wasnt a 'proper' strategy genre, and 4x and turn based was the only thing Strategy devs wanted to make because A.) its cheaper to develop and B.) easier to balance when there isn't user reflexes involved in gameplay balance.

    Blizzard took over a decade to release a sequel to Starcraft, and the rest of the industry focused on Console Gaming, PC gaming took a bit of a sideline until late 2000's

    P.S. fuck EA...
    Last edited by Lothaeryn; 2016-01-11 at 08:23 AM.
    Fod Sparta los wuth, ahrk okaaz gekenlok kruziik himdah, dinok fent kos rozol do daan wah jer do Samos. Ahrk haar do Heracles fent motaad, fah strunmah vonun fent yolein ko yol
    .

  4. #4
    IDK for sure, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was game devs and publishers just up and deciding they aren't worth it anymore...

  5. #5
    The market changed. RTS doesn't fit today's trend of gaming. RTS games tend be very inaccessible due mechanical skill demand. MOBA is transformed RTS suiting the current demand of the market. StarCraft 2 is the sole survivor of RTS these day. Anyway, RTS will remain my most favorite genre of all time.

  6. #6
    The Unstoppable Force
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    The RTS genre has, however, aged very well. I recently re-played Red Alert 2 and the expansion, those games are still gold and still quite hard. Same goes for Age of Empires2/3/Mythology on Steam, the games are still freaking great.

    Amazing sig, done by mighty Lokann

  7. #7
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    I think there might be a little bit of the living in a box -syndrome going on here. There are plenty of new or upcoming RTS games out there. Nothing has happened to it. Maybe you're being influenced by advertising a bit, seeing as though advertising for games is mostly driven by consoles (TV + consoles go hand in hand), and RTS' don't really work on consoles.

  8. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Sydänyö View Post
    I think there might be a little bit of the living in a box -syndrome going on here. There are plenty of new RTS games out there. Nothing has happened to it. Maybe you're being influenced by advertising a bit, seeing as though advertising for games is mostly driven by consoles (TV + consoles go hand in hand), and RTS' don't really work on consoles.
    RTS genre is not what it used to be in the golden age. That's fact.

  9. #9
    Well RTS is mostly represented on mobile devices these days, something in hybrid variation with travian alike etc... For me personal wc3, tft were games which carved many skills into my gaming perspective, still feeling a bit nostalgic when I hear well known sounds in hearthstone

  10. #10
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wildmoon View Post
    RTS genre is not what it used to be in the golden age. That's fact.
    "The golden age"? When was this, exactly? Back when there were like two RTS games out there?

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Sydänyö View Post
    "The golden age"? When was this, exactly? Back when there were like two RTS games out there?
    Back when Blizzard kept releasing RTS. Also C&C,AoE,etc. RTS games were very significant part of the industry.

  12. #12
    Herald of the Titans Ratyrel's Avatar
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    The genre gets little exposure, because there's so little variation on the basic formula. If you put RTS into steam you find that the simulation/management and moba genres have encroached on the traditional resource harvesting, base & army building formula for good reason. Building bases again and again is boring.

  13. #13
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    Quote Originally Posted by Wildmoon View Post
    Back when Blizzard kept releasing RTS. Also C&C,AoE,etc. RTS games were very significant part of the industry.
    Back when Blizzard kept releasing RTS'? Like all of their two RTS games? Surely that doesn't create a golden age. Also, isn't one of their two RTS games current?

    So, are you trying to boil this down to "I want Warcraft"?

  14. #14
    Merely a Setback PACOX's Avatar
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    They exist, just wont find much marketing for them. I forgot that the SC2 one just out and its pretty much the king of the genre. RTS's must also share its market with the more popular turn-based strategies, empire builders, real-time tactical strategy, and MOBA games. People who really like RTS games will seek the newest and latest out from the bunch but I doubt RTSs will ever be mainstream.

  15. #15
    I've been thinking about this too. War3 was my prime as a gamer and the only time I could play competitively, and RTS has always been my cup of tea alongside RPGs. But since War3, there hasn't been anything remotely as good or interesting, and not a single big title that I can recall, excluding whatever SC2 was.

    Quote Originally Posted by Wildmoon View Post
    The market changed. RTS doesn't fit today's trend of gaming. RTS games tend be very inaccessible due mechanical skill demand. MOBA is transformed RTS suiting the current demand of the market. StarCraft 2 is the sole survivor of RTS these day.
    This is the sad truth, I'm afraid. Games nowadays are less and less about inventing the new chess, or slowly aquiring and building a skillset and test it out against increasingly difficult enemies, and more about hiding MMR ranks and spamming achivements for opening doors and beating lvl 1 enemies. RTS games will always be difficult because they require a certain amount of intelligence, something most game developers doesn't want to have frighten away their precious player base.

    Also lol, calling SC2 not a dead game.

    Quote Originally Posted by Sydänyö View Post
    I think there might be a little bit of the living in a box -syndrome going on here. There are plenty of new or upcoming RTS games out there. Nothing has happened to it. Maybe you're being influenced by advertising a bit, seeing as though advertising for games is mostly driven by consoles (TV + consoles go hand in hand), and RTS' don't really work on consoles.
    Like what games? I have a fairly good grasp on what games there are, and will be released, and I can't remember the last time I saw an RTS. And no, I'm not talkling about console titles.

    I mean, you might be right that there still is a market and there still are games, but in that case you still have to search far and wide to find them, as opposed to the era OP's talking about, when RTS was one of the strongest genre of all games out there.
    Last edited by Thrif; 2016-01-11 at 11:23 AM.

  16. #16
    Quote Originally Posted by Sydänyö View Post
    Back when Blizzard kept releasing RTS'? Like all of their two RTS games? Surely that doesn't create a golden age. Also, isn't one of their two RTS games current?

    So, are you trying to boil this down to "I want Warcraft"?
    Wut? You know that there were other big rts titles too right? Also from SC/SC:BW to WC3/WC3:TF was a pretty long period. You are confused or what?

  17. #17
    Pit Lord Denkou's Avatar
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    C&C Generals/Zero Hour was fun stuff, so was Age of Empires II.

    I think today's average gamer doesn't have the interest in or the ability to play RTS games competitively. I think for most people, RTS games are cool at first until you play for about fifteen minutes and become overwhelmed at how many things you have to micromanage at once. It takes an insane amount of mental capacity (multitasking/thinking multiple steps ahead) as well as being able to translate that into keystrokes and clicks in a matter of milliseconds - seriously, look at the APM numbers of professional SC2 players. Most people simply are not able to do that. IMO, it's much easier to get good at an FPS, MOBA, or MMORPG (raiding/PvP in WoW, etc.) than it is to get good at an RTS; the barrier of entry is just much higher.

  18. #18
    Also lol, calling SC2 not a dead game.
    Well, it's dead if you compare it to something like Hearthstone or LoL. It's not dead at all compared to most games in competitive gaming scene.

  19. #19
    Quote Originally Posted by Sydänyö View Post
    Back when Blizzard kept releasing RTS'? Like all of their two RTS games? Surely that doesn't create a golden age. Also, isn't one of their two RTS games current?

    So, are you trying to boil this down to "I want Warcraft"?
    Warcraft 2, StarCraft, Warcraft 3, these games literally invented e-sports as a concept, were the titans that Blizzard built their franchise on alongside Diablo, and some of the most well-known games for their time. Red Alert, Command and Conquer, Age of Empires, all huge games in their own right.

    I'm taking a wild stab that you're around 20, and wasn't really a gamer at that time. I don't think anyone old enough to have had a computer at the time these were big titles would ever question that RTS was one of, if not the, strongest genre of the video game market for a long time.

    - - - Updated - - -

    Quote Originally Posted by Wildmoon View Post
    Well, it's dead if you compare it to something like Hearthstone or LoL. It's not dead at all compared to most games in competitive gaming scene.
    Dead in consideration to what it was in WoL, and where it "should" be. But fair point, guess it still floats around as top 15-20 most played on twitch.

  20. #20
    Company of Heroes remains my top played game on steam with 400+ hours. CoH2 was a massive let down but beyond that I haven't played a new rts in a long time. It's a shame, still one of my fav genres but I guess the market isn't what it use to be.

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