Ironclad Games: RTS is a dying market
Blair Fraser on a troubled genre, and the end of Age Of Empires Online
The director and co-owner of Sins of a Solar Empire studio Ironclad Games has revealed he believes that the real time strategy genre is on its way out.
"It's a dying market," Blair Fraser said in an interview with RockPaperShotgun
"RTSes, to my mind, are very niche now. And that's unfortunate, because that's what I love, and that's what I grew up playing, and that's what I make. Or made, anyway. I just think the demographics have changed. Company of Heroes may be profitable, and StarCraft II is an anomaly. But most of them aren't gonna get big numbers."
He was keen to point out that the Canadian Ironclad's big title Sins of a Solar Empire was still "thriving" but mainly because it had moved away from the traditional RTS model. The studio has also released multiplayer online battle arena Sins of a Dark Age.
"If genres don't keep evolving, they die, and I was seeing not a lot of evolving in the RTS, base-building genre. By extension, I think the MOBA genre has to continue evolving if it's gonna make it past two generations."
In the extensive interview Fraser also gave his opinions on the recent demise of Age Of Empires Online, which is no longer receiving new updates.
"I can tell you why Age of Empires Online went out of business," he revealed.
"They had to hit a certain price point that F2P players find valuable. The Team Fortress 2 high-five animation was the same price as an entire faction in Age of Empires Online. The return on investment there just doesn't make any sense. And that's why Age of Empires Online isn't generating anymore content, and that's why we're not charging for army-type units [in Sins Of A Dark Age]."
Ironclad was founded in 2003 and released its first title, Sins Of A Solar Empire, five years later in February 2008.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-17938_105-20009054-1.html
http://www.scifind.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/06/StarCraft-II-Korean-Air-Event-24.06.2010-A.jpg
Obviously play again and again the same game it is not what people wants...
That is an entertainment world... sometime works , other not...
The fact that we have 4-5 highly successful RTS franchises != abundance. Quite the contrary, especially when compared to 94-2004. The death of older, more traditional franchises also makes his point ( most C&C titles, AoE).
Although not a complete listing by far, this is worth a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chronology_of_real-time_strategy_video_games
As with the rise of mobile gaming, I call it the age of communication syndrome [ instant gratification, visual > imaginative ]. The younger generation has been conditioned into it by the limitations of the cheap, readily-available, mobile platforms.
Edited 4 times. Last edit by Tudor Nita on 3rd February 2013 11:36am
I would expect the RTS genre to have a rebirth in a few years, once people stop trying to replicate the past, and start looking for what will work in the future.
Also the rts genre has done little to reach out to new gamers, while having done little to cater to older gamers, yet its a genre ripe for revival once some innovation is injected into it, Starcraft II shows that there's a market for these games, you can't wash all that away by calling it a fluke, its just only Blizzard have the clout and the name to reach it, but addressing the many issues of the genre is not going to be easy, specially on a slight budget and without sufficient advertising, which is why getting publishers on-board will be important, and comments like this hardly likely to help.
Edited 1 times. Last edit by Alexander McConnell on 19th March 2013 8:38pm
Not sure.