There's some sentiment in the RTS sphere that we may be seeing a modest resurgence in RTS interest at the moment, led by upcoming titles like Tempest Rising and Stormgate. That AoE2's developers seem to be doing a great job with continuing to release new content for the venerable, still-popular title also helps (it even got released for Xbox recently), some Total Annihilation-like fans are really enthused about Beyond All Reason, and horde defense RTSes like They Are Billions and Age of Darkness seem to be gradually becoming more popular/common.
There's actually still a decent number of RTSes that get released each year, but...they generally don't make much of a splash, other than a few standouts like Age of Empires 4 and Company of Heroes 3 (though even neither of those has done terribly well really, especially the latter).
I'd say there is a significant resurgence at the moment, but it won't hit mainstream for a while.
Just take a look at SC2 arcade and Supreme Commander FAF activity if you need examples of a very intense fire that won't be put out. FAF in particular has been extremely active relative to where it was just a few years ago. It's also probably the most friendly international gaming community I've ever witnessed.
I've been dreaming of building an RTS as my next project. Something exactly in-line with a C&C Generals, BFME2 or AOE2 experience. Getting kind of bored with the domain of fintech these days.
Huh, I've been playing SC2 for about 14 years now and have no idea what SC2 arcade is.
I think the game is pretty much dead but don't take my word for it. Just look how much money Blizzard is spending on it. Scraps. Literally. I guess it's hard to monetize because there isn't much room for vanity in such a game.
That said, history often rhymes. I care little about fashion but it's hard to miss the endless repetition every few years. Same with music, interior design, politics, and so many other things in life
> Huh, I've been playing SC2 for about 14 years now and have no idea what SC2 arcade is.
It's the custom games section. I'm really surprised you don't know the name, even in the competitive scene people know what it's called, even if they don't usually use it.
> I think the game is pretty much dead but don't take my word for it.
Queue times for 1v1 are still largely fine. The larger team games have longer queue times, but it's usually not too horrible until you get higher in MMR.
But yes, Blizzard has largely dropped support for it, so it'll likely slowly die.
I just can’t find a good space one to scratch the itch that Sins of a Solar Empire left me. Stellaris doesn’t cut it. The constant blitz to expand at the cost of literally anything and the non-viability of 95% of non-expansion focused strategies just sucks the fun out for me.
Have you looked at Falling Frontier? Not quite the same, but some of the ideas in it (like resources being physical items that actually need to be moved around from harvesting area to production facilities, rather than abstract "metals" and "credits" that can be instantly deployed anywhere) look really fascinating.
Dunno if you know, but Sins 2 is in development. Stardock released it in Alpha state on Epic late last year (you can go and buy it now, and play through the 'Technical Preview' releases). They do seem to have multiplayer up and running.
I haven't bought it or really followed how things are going in detail.
I don't think the RTS genre died; I think it evolved. Two of the most popular games in the world, League of Legends and DotA2, are RTS games. The Total War franchise keeps on kicking. Auto-battlers like Teamfight Tactics and Mechabellum mix real-time analysis with turn-based decision making.
It's the old school style of RTS that's dying; harvest resources to build units and beat your opponent. But that style of game was perfected with the release of Brood War, and the core mechanics haven't been improved on since.
I have no evangelism for the RTS genre, but I don't consider a MOBA the same as an RTS. MOBAs are only real time strategy in the sense that it's a game you can't pause where you need to think strategically, and coincidentally has a birds eye view just because it was a WC3 mod. I mean, Smite is a third person MOBA. Is that an RTS?
Doesn't mean they are less valid of games, it's just not what I think of. To me, controlling more than one unit is pretty central to what an RTS is. It scratches a certain commander/godlike itch that other games don't. And those things you list (harvesting resources, building units) aren't absolutely critical to the genre. Company of Heroes is considered an RTS by many
Another trait MOBAs share with RTS is that they use click-to-move, despite WASD being used in most real-time action game genres. The other exception being Diablo (which I believe uses CTM because it evolved from a turn-based strategy game).
Strange choice to release an article about RTS without mentioning Starcraft. I still play frequently as do plenty others, despite naysayers claiming the genre as dead for 5+ years. Stormgate coming out soon will hopefully scratch the itch for a sequel.
The article's timeline ends in '96, two years before the release of Starcraft.
I think it's more about the origin of the genre rather than it's greatest exponents. I believe an honest retrospective on RTS should also include Warcraft 3, RA2, AoE2 (!) and Cannon Fodder, among many other titles.
I share your sentiment about Stormgate, I hope I get to play it without having to upgrade my PC, at least.
Funny that the RTS gender seems to be dyeing again. Starcraft 2 was - is - super popular, but it has been already more than 10 years!
Homeworld 3 is promising, but is far from getting the press it should. C&C died trying to transition to mobile. Total Wars are still very alive though.
There's actually still a decent number of RTSes that get released each year, but...they generally don't make much of a splash, other than a few standouts like Age of Empires 4 and Company of Heroes 3 (though even neither of those has done terribly well really, especially the latter).