Why did RTS genre die?

[Captain n00by]

RTS genre used to be huge on PC years ago, this was one of the most popular "PC style" games out there, and the consoles also got ports of these games (although for some it might be unfanthomable to play a RTS with gamepad).

So why exactly did the "base building" RTS genre basically die off?

When we look RTS games today, they're either "real time tactics" stuff like Total War and without base building aspect, or they're "4X grand strategy", which is basically turn-based stuff like Civa, so not really RTS.

Games like Command & Conquer, WarCraft, StarCraft, etc, used to be super popular, but today, games like this are a tiny niche (I know some WW1 themed one was released in recent times but not much more).

Why is this so?

[76561199764564835]

Ответ простой.
Просто есть command conquer и новые стратегии не нужны.
В command conquer можно играть вечно. И даже в первые части . Такой подарок в 2020 году command conquer remastered. Люди играют и не нарадуются, и никаких им новых стратегий и не нужно больше. Даже с графикой 90 годов играется на одном дыхании . Ремейк бы не помешал , но и ремастереда вполне хватает. Тем более есть и вторые и третьи части tiberium war и kane's wrath. Поэтому на новые стратегие никто уже и не смотрит, когда и command conquer хватает на данный момет времени и ещё долгое время будет номером один когда речь будет заходить о реальных стратегиях

[Squint-E]

Nyerguds の投稿を引用：

It didn't "die". Companies just started realising that just because StarCraft exists doesn't mean the overall RTS format is automatically suitable for E-sports.

And if you look around, there are actually quite a few new ones around.

I know this is a bit of a side-question, but you seem knowledgeable! Are there any affordable RTS games around? I'm getting the itch for some RTS nostalgia as I'm going through some stuff right now, but it seems most RTS games are $20+ which is really steep for me currently.

[MT]

Squint-E TTV の投稿を引用：

Nyerguds の投稿を引用：

It didn't "die". Companies just started realising that just because StarCraft exists doesn't mean the overall RTS format is automatically suitable for E-sports.

And if you look around, there are actually quite a few new ones around.

I know this is a bit of a side-question, but you seem knowledgeable! Are there any affordable RTS games around? I'm getting the itch for some RTS nostalgia as I'm going through some stuff right now, but it seems most RTS games are $20+ which is really steep for me currently.

Perhaps Mechabellum what you are looking for?

[Jimmi Stixx]

It's obvious really. They ran out of ideas. It had to happen eventually. It's why rock and roll isn't tearing up the charts anymore. Just be happy you lived in the golden age of gaming.

[Ritsuka]

Jimmi Stixx の投稿を引用：

It's obvious really. They ran out of ideas. It had to happen eventually. It's why rock and roll isn't tearing up the charts anymore. Just be happy you lived in the golden age of gaming.

as i said before, the genre didnt die, there have been plenty of new rts games released and more coming, just because one series of a genra isnt being made anymore, doesn't mean the genra is dead.

[Jimmi Stixx]

Ritsuka の投稿を引用：

Jimmi Stixx の投稿を引用：

It's obvious really. They ran out of ideas. It had to happen eventually. It's why rock and roll isn't tearing up the charts anymore. Just be happy you lived in the golden age of gaming.

as i said before, the genre didnt die, there have been plenty of new rts games released and more coming, just because one series of a genra isnt being made anymore, doesn't mean the genra is dead.

Not dead in the sense that they stopped making games. Just dead in the sense that any of the new games do anything new.

[Retro Hacker Developer]

Squint-E TTV の投稿を引用：

Nyerguds の投稿を引用：

It didn't "die". Companies just started realising that just because StarCraft exists doesn't mean the overall RTS format is automatically suitable for E-sports.

And if you look around, there are actually quite a few new ones around.

I know this is a bit of a side-question, but you seem knowledgeable! Are there any affordable RTS games around? I'm getting the itch for some RTS nostalgia as I'm going through some stuff right now, but it seems most RTS games are $20+ which is really steep for me currently.

Give the Eugen Systems games a try. European Escalation, Air land Battle, Red Dragon, Steel Division 1 and 2. You can wait till they are on sale for some good prices. They are RTSs with no base building but they are phenomenal games.

[Food]

The genre lost a lot of popularity in the early 2000's onwards when 3D gaming became cheaper and more accessible.

Before that most home pc users could only run mostly 2d games. You're average home gaming pc in 1999 was a Pentium II with a budget graphics card.

3D gaming went from being an expensive enthusiast hobby to being mainstream in about five years from 1999 to 2004. That is what knocked the RTS genre off the throne.

[MT]

Spartacus の投稿を引用：

The genre lost a lot of popularity in the early 2000's onwards when 3D gaming became cheaper and more accessible.

Before that most home pc users could only run mostly 2d games. You're average home gaming pc in 1999 was a Pentium II with a budget graphics card.

3D gaming went from being an expensive enthusiast hobby to being mainstream in about five years from 1999 to 2004. That is what knocked the RTS genre off the throne.

I Respect you, but have to disagree with this idea.
Warcraft 3 - Reign of Chaos, is a 3D game, that dominated decades of gaming, was responsible for the success of World of Warcraft (Watch WoW documentary to see how the devs talk about the fans who showed up for the launch day), and spawned thousands of mods that turned into their own games, and started a whole new game genre - MOBA.
Warcraft 3 with the WorldCreator, I would argue, generated a whole movement of game developers. Older 2D games don't even stand close to that level of popularity.
Its like Mario next to Joust.
I understand your point but RTS also successfully "adapted" into 3D along with others.
3D in 2004 might be a (small) part of the larder reason(s) what knocked the RTS genre off the throne.

[MT]

"Would the game have done better if it used LDSS? Maybe? It's hard to say. As others pointed out, Greg Goo was launched midway through the SC2 release cycles, and honestly SC2-Wings of Liberty was the last big multiplayer RTS.... the MOBA genre took over by being more engaing for more players, easier to learn, equally hard to master, and easier to monetize with a free-2o-playu model." - KuroZed

https://www.reddit.com/r/greygoo/comments/ja8pcg/comment/k6njwzh/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

[Torx]

LordKainofNosgoth19 の投稿を引用：

Nyerguds の投稿を引用：

It didn't "die". Companies just started realising that just because StarCraft exists doesn't mean the overall RTS format is automatically suitable for E-sports.

And if you look around, there are actually quite a few new ones around.

^^^This... Also, there are still lots of new RTS games being made or have been made already and are published right here on Steam. Even in the past few years, there were obviously still some new releases.

Just some of them are:

9-Bit Armies
Starship Troopers: Terran Command
Aliens: Dark Descent
Tempest Rising
Dune: Spice Wars
Terminator: Dark Fate - Defiance

I think gamers wanted to explore other game mechanics. The gaming industry got boosted with new hardware and better OSs for PC. New devs showed up and indie devs showed up too and wanted to make their own new unique and original game play mechanics along with other new ideas.

Steam showed up and gave new devs pawa...

But now frankly we have explored so many different mechanics that we might have reached a limit or at least a low. Perhaps that is why classic games like Quake and Doom are also coming back as remasters and even modern clones and even a AAA version of classic Doom itself so Doom 2016 and Doom Eternal with no-reloads mechanics for guns.

This retro wave goes even as far as using the original decades old game engines that are by modern standards totally out of date along with the asset style even if the engine is not 1000 years old and written fully in Assembly.

DORF uses like Factorio those old offline rendered sprites... just higher resolution. :D

D.O.R.F. Real-Time Strategic Conflict:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/2388620/DORF_RealTime_Strategic_Conflict/