A while ago, I've read somewhere that EA was reviving the Lord of the Rings' strategy games series, I was pretty delighted, my heart felt a real sense of relief, before reading the finer print and seeing that it's a mobile game. Then I started thinking about Command & Conquer and how EA hasn't revived that game series yet.
So what is going on? Are RTS games dying these days? I wouldn't exactly say that. The market is a lot different, people are playing all kinds of genre archetypes that have spawned off from RTS games. Like MOBAs, 4x, turn-based tactics games, survival sims, and so on. Some of these genres have existed before, but with RTS influences also mixed up in them.
But we don't see a lot of RTS games, nor do people talk about them much. Age of Empires 4 just came out, and there's no big buzzword going around the internet about it. Is it true that the glory days are actually over and that in the remnants of what's left, this is where RTS games are stuck at? Maybe there's a lot to explore there, and I want to divulge into it completely from multiple angles.
The Esports Scene
In the midst of the 2010s, Esports were becoming more prominent and had been becoming a big mainstay for live-streaming and gaming in general. With RTS, you had juggernauts like Starcraft II, and Warcraft III popularity surging across the world. Especially from Korea. But right after 2013, no word about it has come out.
There haven't been major league tournaments or coverage right Starcraft II's release. It wasn't only that, releases of newer RTS games have also slowed. The Esports scene for RTS games were pretty much dead from there. So that should be a conclusive evidence that RTS is dying, right?
Well, not quite exactly. It's a lot deeper than this, and opens up avenues about what really draws people like us into playing RTS games in the first place.
The video's simple motto is that, no EA is still wrong, single-player games are here to stay. Long as the games are creatively authentic, and original. This mostly applies to RTS games as well. It also states that soon as Starcraft II went F2P, the playerbase jumped up really high. Enough to convince Blizzard that the RTS genre isn't dead at all, and their new marketing department has something else to lean to, remasters.
Unfortunately, the infamous Warcraft III Reforged was a catastrophic failure of epic proportions. Main blame goes on the poorly done remasters and online problems. This was the game that introduced DotA to the world, and the disrespect turned people off from ever visiting RTS again. Yet, funny enough other remasters like Command & Conquer Collection, and Age of Empires III have shown to be successful if done right.
Hardware Limitations
Let's be real here, you don't beefy hardware to run good strategy games. Well, some games out there you do, but strategy games were never the type to give you the impression that you need a good PC to play one. Like Darwinia for example.
Though despite that, becoming exposed to the AAA and AA market for so long, we crave games that have some visual fidelity in them to bring out the visual spectacle of troops being destroyed one each battle we partake. But limitations isn't only from rendering the game, it's also how you play it on the device.
Playing strategy games on mobile phones is pretty difficult, not only is the screen small and there's so inputting you have to deal with, which can turn the experience very finicky, you'll also miss the fun experience of using two input devices like the keyboard and mouse.
I am not enthused about playing EA's new Middle Earth strategy game that is coming for mobile, knowing these limitations exist. I kind of wish they did a remaster of the older games, and also release them on the Switch, I could see it working there because of the mix of both the controller and touch screen.
If anything, there should be more different ways to play it on other ports instead of changing the game for the platform sake. Like, what Microsoft keeps also doing with Halo Wars series. Of course, using handhelds for strategy isn't really that popular, but with the Steam Deck out now, that can slowly and surely change.
Market Split And Growing Niche Sector
While RTS games have been dying since the early 2010s, some games have split from the scene, creating other genres. Like MOBAs, which came after Warcraft III RoC's popular mod, Defense of the Ancients, or colloquially called DotA. Which had a sequel called Dota 2 and a successor called League of Legends.
The other reason why the RTS market didn't have much growth is because the games didn't evolve much right after 2010. The formula being a little stale as they got similar with a lot of the games. Some other games took a few liberties by having more creativity added, but those were surface level supplementation. Same thing; resource gathering>building base>continue war of attrition>destroy enemy base.
But in here also exist the niche market in Steam. Games like the Total War series have flourished not because it has made games about everything from; the Shogunates, Roman empire, Three Kingdoms, Warhammer, and more, but it's because Total War has found a way to distinguish itself from every other RTS in the market.
And then you have the 4x games like Civilization, Stellaris, Galactic Civilization, etc. Turn-based Tactics games have also borrowed concepts from RTS games and have been flourishing lately, with major releases like Fire Emblem: Three Houses, and Mario + Rabbids.
This including other games that are mostly survival based building, but also have RTS elements baked in. RTS isn't dead, the best way to say it, is that RTS can only flourish if the gameplay design finds a way to evolve completely, or revolutionize itself.
So I take it by now we all would love it if EA made a new Command & Conquer or another Middle Earth strategy game that isn't a mobile release. I wish companies wouldn't take any IPs they can and keep throwing the respect they've earned down the broiler.
With the ever-growing tech behind A.I. and games nearing the uncanny valley, we can be sure that strategy, especially RTS, will thrive and make a big comeback within the gaming sphere. Just stop playing mobile games, there's way too much of those and most of them are derivations of one another.