↓ what happened to strategy videogames?

Strategy video games as we know them today (mostly real time strategy) appeared in the early 80′s but it wasn’t until the late 90s when they got popularized.

The first RTS videogame I bought with my own pocket money was Age of Empires (although I had already played with the Close Combat & Command & Conquer series). It was during my adolescent geekperiod that I got to spend way too many hours in front of my IBM Aptiva leading my own civilization & building up my army.

From AoE to Dune 2000 (my other favourite) I went through Heroes of M&M, all C&C series, Civilization, Empire Earth, some Starcraft (which I didn’t get to appreciate) and the last time I got my hands on a strategy vg was 3 years ago (Rise of Nations: Rise of legends).

Since the appearing of the new generation consoles the PC and consequently strategy vg have lost popularity. Westwood, Virgin, Sierra studios, creators of some of the best RTS sagas have been absorbed by big multinationals (EA, Ubisoft, Activition…) who are no longer interested in developing these kind of videogames. They just don’t sell enough, not as in the 90s where p2p & torrents were not as popular. Surely C&C or Civilization are always a big hit but why? Because the number of strategy titles in the market has dropped quite seriously.

Last year EA decided to launch Red Alert 3. Graphics were astonishing, the number of units & game complexity grew unimaginably compared to previous C&C titles; but the essence of the game remained unchanged. There have been no major changes / revolutions in the strategy vg game industry. EA currently has 5 different strategy titles in their game portfolio (15 with special editions) while in the 90s the number of companies (now controlled by EA) released 3 times more titles than they do now.

It seems like expanding the Sims brand or creating Pet caring videogames for kids is way more profitable (and less complicated) than a good strategy title.

If you want strategy go and play chess!!

See you @ Rennes

added value…

R.U.S.E introduces bluffing as a main & serious tactic to win a war. Here’s the trailer of what it should become one of the best RTS titles of this year (yet to launch)…

[flv:http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ohNzHWL7FI 500 315]

Hope it will introduce some serious innovations as this genre lacks new imaginative formulas today. Maybe when touch & interactive tables will appear in the coming years we´ll be able to see a rebirth of strategy games. Imagine …