It is possible to get something done.

[@Innomen]

I'd just like to point out that victory is possible if gamers speak out enough.

http://arstechnica.com/gaming/2015/10/ridiculous-deus-ex-pre-order-scheme-canceled-after-resounding-fan-ire/

[toruvinn]

Nah, they don't give a crap. And even if the TITANS page gets flooded with negative reviews, they'll just gonna pull it from the store and release PLANETARY ANNIHILATION: LOLIANS. Rinse and repeat.

[Starbug]

Sadly this genre is so niche that there probably isn't the numbers to make a difference.

Pity. This game had potential before they fragmented the playerbase and made the DLC a whole new game.

[@Innomen]

Originally posted by toruvinn:

Nah, they don't give a crap. And even if the TITANS page gets flooded with negative reviews, they'll just gonna pull it from the store and release PLANETARY ANNIHILATION: LOLIANS. Rinse and repeat.

I wish I could prove you wrong.

Originally posted by Starbug:

Sadly this genre is so niche that there probably isn't the numbers to make a difference.

Pity. This game had potential before they fragmented the playerbase and made the DLC a whole new game.

Hmmm. I've never thought of rts as niche, why do you say that?

The whole professional starcraft thing would seem to refute that. FPS is bigger no doubt, and RPG makes more money because of OCD, but I don't see how that makes RTS niche. What am I missing?

[Starbug]

I put it in a niche because the player numbers on RTS games are pretty low in comparison to other genres. RTS, Point and click and space sim games used to be ten a penny, but now every second steam game is either a FPS, walking simulator or survival crafting sandbox.

Looking at how they funded the game and what happened thereafter makes me think there isn't the numbers of dissenters requisite to make them change their mind (like the Deus Ex devs).

What's the average player count on Titans? PA usually was around 300+

There's normally more than that on Supcom Forged Alliance forever server.

[Azzazzel]

Originally posted by Innomen:

I wish I could prove you wrong.

Maybe this offers some small comfort....

http://www.pcgamer.com/ubisoft-postpones-world-in-conflict-server-shutdown-after-outcry/

Sometimes entities act in benevolent ways, and there is always hope that there is hope :)

[Gavi]

Originally posted by Innomen:

Originally posted by Starbug:

Sadly this genre is so niche that there probably isn't the numbers to make a difference.

Pity. This game had potential before they fragmented the playerbase and made the DLC a whole new game.

Hmmm. I've never thought of rts as niche, why do you say that?

The whole professional starcraft thing would seem to refute that. FPS is bigger no doubt, and RPG makes more money because of OCD, but I don't see how that makes RTS niche. What am I missing?

Strategy games, including RTS hits like starcraft, made up about 4% of the gaming industry's sales in 2014 as an example. That makes the genre the 2nd lowest for revenue opportunities, which is why it's often considered niche.

[@Innomen]

Originally posted by Starbug:

RTS, Point and click and space sim games used to be ten a penny, but now every second steam game is either a FPS, walking simulator or survival crafting sandbox.

True but I think that's a function of development tools.

99% of modern games are built using game dev tools and recycled engines.

I suspect at this point it's just 10x easier to develop the kind of games you reference, and that accounts for the numbers.

Low hanging fruit is the most often picked.

Originally posted by Gavi:

gaming industry's sales

I don't consider profitability to be the only metric of relevance.

See my comment above about low hanging fruit.

If I could gather any numbers I want I would look at total hours spent by humanity gaming when not constrained by hardware or social context (like mobile gaming at work or something) and break down those hours by genre and then average them.

I highly doubt RTS gaming accounts for 2% or less of humanity's hours spent gaming.

Still, I accept your argument. Officially I'm happy to stipulate RTS as being niche. /shrugs

I was just curious what the logic was there. Thanks for sharing :)

[Gavi]

No worries. It's important to keep in mind niche market doesn't mean irrelevant, and specifically niche market as is used in business doesn't involve the anything beyond number of buyers as a subset of specific type of product.

Functionally strategy games often provide alot more hours of playability then several other genres but to an investor or developer deciding what to produce a player who buys their game and plays for 10hrs is the same as a player whos buys their game and plays 100hrs. Of course there are several other factors to consider and nothings quite as simple as this brief explanation would suffice to cover it all.

As an aside, I'd love to see the information on humanities hours spent gaming in the context you suggest. I'm sure there would be a quite alot to discover and likely a few suprises.