Is the FPS genre stagnating?

[Blacksite]

DICE general manager says too few studios are taking the need for technical innovation seriously.



DICE general manager Karl Magnus Troedsson has criticised the lack of innovation present in many firstperson shooters today, believing that too few studios take the need for technical evolution seriously.

"The FPS is a very hardcore genre, and the hardcore crowd of the FPS is probably bigger than some other genres," he tells us. "And that crowd has extremely high demands on what the games are and how they develop.

"If they don't see some kind of new, if not revolutionary then at least evolutionary, step of rendering in every game they will start to lose interest. And I think that is what's happening. Because a lot of franchises out there don't take this seriously; to actually make sure that we don't just challenge ourselves on the gameplay aspect, or perhaps some other area like distribution method, but also how it [feels], how it looks and how it sounds.

"DICE has a strong history, for good and for bad, of doing this. We constantly bash ourselves and say, 'We could have done that better'. It might just be a rendering feature but in the end it adds up to the complete experience of what we're doing."

Troedsson points to the coming tech transition - both to new hardware and more powerful engines - and a move away from modern settings as temporary salves, but warns against using thematic switches in place of broader ambition.

"I think we're going to start seeing people moving away from the modern setting, because every now and again settings or themes start to get stale and then everyone jumps over," he continues. "Y'know, at some point dinosaurs are the hottest thing and everyone is making games with dinosaurs, but there are trends. It used to be WWII, and recently it's been the modern era and people are now moving towards near future.

"But it's a bit cheap to just say, 'Okay, we're going to switch and go back in time or into the future and that will be innovation'. It will definitely drive the franchise forward for whatever game, but it's not true innovation, it's more a thematic change that has a perceived value to the gamers out there. But as a developer you can only make so many games in one particular era, and then you personally start to get a bit bored with it."

That propensity toward trends at the mainstream end of the market, rather than a greater diversity of themes, is, of course, what many critics of the genre would point to as its major problem. But it's hard to begrudge big-budget teams' need to minimise risk in the face of a cripplingly conservative buying public. And while Troedsson acknowledges that more needs to be done, spectacle remains high on his list of priorites.

"I think it's our responsibility as game developers to always push ourselves when it comes to the experience of games," he concludes. "To always make sure that when we put games in the hands of consumers that we are proud of what we've done.

"I'm not saying we're going to build an FPS that will make you cry, or anything like that [laughs]. But we want people to be amazed when they look at our games. And I think this is more important than becoming number one in whatever way you look at it - though naturally part of that comes from a very high level of competitiveness here within DICE. We want to make the best game that we can, and we want that game to be the best one on the market. If gamers think that, then we've done our job. We're not there yet, but we're working on it."

Source

[Bio]

Is it stagnating? Yeah, I'd say so.

[bigCman123]

They need some gameplay innovation, not just tech innovation. They should bring back some quick paced FPS games like Unreal Tournament or something.

Honestly I've avoided almost every FPS lately. I'm still waiting for Half Life 3 and Bioshock Infinite though...

[Shibby]

"FPS is a very hardcore genre"

lolno.


It's been stagnating for years. No FPS has come remotely close to gripping my attention like CoD4 did.

[chinchilla123]

I say yeah, they are all the same. The best FPS ive played in A LONGG TIME is Ghost recon future soldier, only because it has more features and is less boring.

[Kuro]

Mhmm I agree kinda getting sick of FPS. It's just that my friends are so into it and keep pushing me back into it..if only more of them were creative I wouldn't really have a problem they all look the same to me. :/

[kidd0218]

"FPS is a very hardcore genre"

lolno.


It's been stagnating for years. No FPS has come remotely close to gripping my attention like CoD4 did.

I agree with you on that one, COD4 was probably the one that really got me into FPS more. It is true that FPS games are getting stagnant now. Battlefield 3 was the last one that got me back to the feeling I had with COD4.

[radgamer420]

Not to me. FPS are still my favorite genre.

[keefy]

What else is there to do with an FPS but shoot and kill?
All this unlocking bullshit in FPS games thesedays is like playing locksmith simulator.

[Royals]

I agree with you on that one, COD4 was probably the one that really got me into FPS more. It is true that FPS games are getting stagnant now. Battlefield 3 was the last one that got me back to the feeling I had with COD4.

I agree. Cod4 really got me into loving FPS games and BF3 just reignited that.

[Ariakace]

All i can say is Counter-Strike Condition Zero. August 21's. 15 bucks. its going to be the best FPS since counterstrike first launched.

[BoyBettaKnow]

Too many military shooters. Need more twitch-arena based shooters!!

Last FPS I had a genuinely fun time playing was Bulletstorm


BBK. Tapatalking.

[SOLID-DRAGON-X]

Military FPS games are going to be around for a while it's a way for the military to recruit people and some games are actually being used as training tools.

[SOLID-DRAGON-X]

Read this old post from 2010 if you don't believe me

http://www.livescience.com/10022-mil...ideo-games.htm

[keefy]

You mean Americas Army 3. Which is crap.

[SOLID-DRAGON-X]

I've been in the game rooms they use for training and it's not America's Army 3 it's a big simulation where everyone has a station Gunner,Driver,TC and much more depending on what your job is.And each station feels like the real thing it's way more advanced than AA3.

[-Kwesnoth-]

Thanks to cod every other fps is trying to just copy the formula.

[*goo]

The massive effort to streamline (read: make easier) FPS games is what's hurting them.

The competitiveness is what keeps these games going. Chipping away at that makes them a blander experience.


Obligatory TapaTalk signature.

[LfCpS3]

The last FPS i can say i really enjoyed was BFBC1 bad KZ2. After that it was all downhill.

Then both went in the route of dumming down and being more mainstream, in other words adding/removing features that makes the game lose its original identity.

[Royals]

I've been in the game rooms they use for training and it's not America's Army 3 it's a big simulation where everyone has a station Gunner,Driver,TC and much more depending on what your job is.And each station feels like the real thing it's way more advanced than AA3.

I played AA2 waaaaaaay back in the day like early 2000's, played it for about 9 years straight everyday. Then AA3 came out and it was terrible so everyone just moved to different games.

[TGO]

I'm sorry Dice bout the most hardcore crowd is and always has been the beat-em-up crowd, and yes FPS's have gone very stagnant but I think thats mainly because its focus these days is multiplayer

Sent from my LT26i using Tapatalk 2

[$Greatness$]

"FPS is a very hardcore genre"

lolno.


It's been stagnating for years. No FPS has come remotely close to gripping my attention like CoD4 did.

You stole my password and wrote what I was thinking, didn't you!

[zex494]

Stagnating? Definitely so. Personally, im hoping for the entire genre death...at least for a couple of years anyway

[Royals]

Stagnating? Definitely so. Personally, im hoping for the entire genre death...at least for a couple of years anyway

That won't ever happen, at least not anytime soon. Way too many people buy them each year.

[zex494]

That won't ever happen, at least not anytime soon. Way too many people buy them each year.

Yeah, i know. *sigh* a man can dream..a man can dream