The real-time strategy genre is nowhere near its peak from the mid-to-late 1990s. Games like Command and Conquer, StarCraft, and Age of Empires ruled the world then, but today, they feel more like forgotten relics than pillars of the gaming landscape.
Dave Pottinger, who worked on games like Age of Empires, Age of Mythology, and Halo Wars, feels the genre needs a wake-up call.
Speaking on the VideoGamer Podcast, he explains how the genre relies on what worked over 20 years ago rather than catering to the tastes of today's gaming customer base.
"You're still playing the same game we're playing 20 years ago," he says, "and looking at some of these new games—Stormgate and others like that—and they're still really largely based on that formula."
The Real-Time Strategy Genre Has Mostly Relied on Nostalgia Instead of Moving Forward
In many ways, Pottinger is right. Most marquee RTS releases today highlight what worked 20 to 30 years ago. The highlight of Stormgate during development was that the team at Frost Giant Studios came from Blizzard Entertainment because they wanted to make an RTS game reminiscent of StarCraft and Warcraft III.
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