Rise, Fall, and then Rise Again of RTS Games

[Battlemind]

The RTS genre was very popular during its early inception. It was very popular during the 90s of previous millennia and the early of new millennia (early 2000s). Then RTS genre went into hibernation. One of the main reasons was RTS games were mainly focused on PC platforms where as the entire gaming market was moving towards consoles and mobile platforms. Now, RTS seems to be coming back. How do you analyze the rise, fall and the rise of RTS genre?

 

[riberet19]

All video game genres have their ups and downs, RTS were not going to be an exception, the downs and ups are part of their evolution, the downturns in sales and players are a good opportunity for the evolution of the genre, and to improve things that they did not improve during the rising season.

 

[eLdavis]

It's pretty common for things to rise and fall, the most important thing is that they are able to rise up again. I think this genre's saving grace was that they where able to realize their shortcomings by quickly making sure RTS games was available on consoles and mostly mobile phones.

 

[Gabriel Angelos]

Let's face it, it is more exciting playing rts games on PC and then console than on any other device such as a mobile device. If you are a true fan of the genre, you would agree with me on that. However, I am impressed with the progress made by the devs in making playing some of these rts games on mobile better.

 

[Al]

RTS was one of the largest genres of videogames for a long time, but we're going back to the golden days of the 90s and 2000s for that. It did fall by the wayside a little bit but recently we have seen a renaissance. A lot of the new games being pushed are indie games as there is probably not enough money in the market to sustain a huge studio. I think we're into the "rise again" phase, just - shall we say - streamlined.

The relative "failure" to impress of Company of Heroes 3 and Homeworld 3 have perhaps signified the end of major studio involvement with real-time strategy games.

 

[Noobslayer]

It's pretty common for things to rise and fall, the most important thing is that they are able to rise up again. I think this genre's saving grace was that they where able to realize their shortcomings by quickly making sure RTS games were available on consoles and mostly mobile phones.

Playing this genre of games on mobile can never give you the satisfaction that you desire. It is always pretty difficult to have it at that point when you compare playing on consoles. So, I would say gamers started playing more of RTS games as a result of the more availability of consoles for most players.