Gaming What Happened to Real-Time Strategy Games?

tom_mai78101

The Helper Connoisseur / Ex-MineCraft Host
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When Starcraft II came out five years ago, it smashed sales records. It was as big a release as PC games get, selling millions of copies within its first month — some of those actual boxes. For the next couple years, it held pole position in the rapidly growing market for competitive games.

That might have been the high point for real-time strategy games. Since then, Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas (or MOBAs) have devoured the RTS audience while other genres have grown their own sizable audiences.

Starcraft’s old rivals, meanwhile, have fallen off worse than it has. After a decade of decline, onetime rival Command and Conquer no longer exists; Blizzard’s other RTS rival, Relic Entertainment, got lost in the wreckage of publisher THQ. They’ve since lost the rights to Warhammer and botched the release of Company of Heroes 2. And the only successor to historic RTSs such as Age of Empires II and Empire Earth seems to be, well, Age of Empires II HD — which happens to be the only recent RTS success I can think of besides Starcraft II. A dark age indeed.
 
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ertaboy356b

Old School Gamer
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You can thank FPS for that. Traditional RPG is almost gone as well. Looks like new generation gamers prefers mindless shooters.
 

Accname

2D-Graphics enthusiast
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Not true.

I would say that the number of people who appreciate the old kinds of games is still the same as before, if not higher. But since there are so many more people now their percentage is lower. Its a question about absolute and relative numbers.
 

Slapshot136

Divide et impera
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I blame consoles and their pathetic RTS games (Halo wars anyone?) scaring people away from the genre
 

Mahucharn

I wear a fez now, fezzes are cool.
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172
I'm still holding out for Warcraft IV. Surely Blizzard will deliver. Or not. I want this more than HL3 (I'm not actually a huge fan of Half Life, but that's beside the point).
 

KMilz

You can change this now in User CP.
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If they released Warcraft 4 with a map editor as revolutionary as the Warcraft 3 editor, thehelper.net would become a significant force in the world again.
 

tom_mai78101

The Helper Connoisseur / Ex-MineCraft Host
Staff member
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If they released Warcraft 4 with a map editor as revolutionary as the Warcraft 3 editor, thehelper.net would become a significant force in the world again.
Only if Activision Blizzard uses the same or similar ideological foundations (or same or similar ways to capture the core essences) to build Warcraft 4 from Warcraft 3, or it's going to be another poorly done sequel, and we all know what those kinds of games turned out to be.
 

Accname

2D-Graphics enthusiast
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wow, tom dishing out the hate.

But seriously, I cant believe the same people who worked on SC:BW were working on SC2. The only similarities between these games is the name.
 

Slapshot136

Divide et impera
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471
Meh, I would be happy if they managed to get B.net back to what it was in the wc3 days - I can't even "follow" freinds into a game anymore, their lobbies keep "ghosting", parties have weird errors, the in-game/available status icons are constantly messed up - heck I can't even /w a friend in-game, I have to open up a damn menu
 

Varine

And as the moon rises, we shall prepare for war
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803
I was very disappointed with SC2. RTS seems to have moved into the indie realm now.
 

FireCat

Oh Shi.. Don't wake the tiger!
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530
You've probably figured out that "I won't go away"
Real time strategy or, turn based strategy games are so so so boring.
 

Varine

And as the moon rises, we shall prepare for war
Reaction score
803
Then why did you come to a forum dedicated to a real time strategy game?
 
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