Looter Shooters, Extraction Shooters, Hero Shooters, Battle Royales, and the future of gaming
Bungie’s Marathon
Looter Shooters, Extraction Shooters, Hero Shooters, even Battle Royales are starting to become an overpopulated set of genres, some would even say a fad in gaming.
Everything from Fortnite, Apex Legends, Destiny, The Division, Warframe, Escape From Tarkov, Hunt: Showdown, Rainbow Six: Siege, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II’s DMZ, to Overwatch.
Only a short time has passed since ill fated hero shooters Concord and XDefiant were shut down. Yet already we have Arc Raiders, Marathon, and many more are lined up to launch this year.
With every game asking gamers for ALL of their time, continuous financial investment whether it is DLC, battle passes, season passes, loot boxes, cosmetics, or other over priced features, players are feeling the pressure. Some studios are greedy, some content is meant to support the developers and keep the lights on at the studio. It’s difficult to spend millions or hundreds of millions on a single game, only to offer it for $60, $40, or entirely free and hope to make money from expansions and cosmetics.
The economy is in a difficult transition, a large majority of gamers are working class. We’re not millionaires and billionaires with time and money to spend. Any moment we have to relax after a hard day of work or school is precious. There’s no time to spend on games with enormous, never ending content funnels. Some people prefer games with a good story, a definitive ending, a chance to move on and play other games. Others might prefer a never ending experience, to dive into a world and explore it with friends indefinitely.
In my case, I always enjoy returning to games like Destiny and the Division, but I’m always trying to keep up with new releases. It’s fun to play games like Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II and Helldivers II with friends on occasion.
In between all these great experiences are the opportunity to jump into new worlds like Marathon and Arc Raiders, but if they’re not innovating on the extraction shooter formula, if the art style and characters aren’t appealing, then why should we invest time and money in it. This is a fiercely competitive group of genres with a trail of failed attempts, millions of dollars lost, thousands of layoffs, studios shuttered, all because you can’t predict the future. So developers follow the latest fads in gaming and hope in a few years when the game transitions from development to launch, you hope for the best. Game developers hinge their bets that the battle royale, looter shooter, and extraction shooter will maintain popularity, and hopefully there’s enough room to coexist with the likes of Fortnite, Destiny, and other established titles.
Sometimes it’s publishers or even more likely shareholders that want games that will make them a profit, not necessarily something that will be artistic, or a great new innovation in gaming that' we will talk about for decades.
Gamers are likely already entrenched in their favorite games in these genres or others. If a game is just another attempt at the same formula with a different coat of paint, or an obvious cash grab, gamers won’t waste time or money on it.
Incredible experiences like the Campaign and PVE elements of Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine II, Black Myth: WuKong, and other innovative titles are few and far between. Fleeting experiences like these Looter Shooters, Extraction Shooters, Hero Shooters, and Battle Royales are only alluring when properly balanced, free from cheaters, and the servers are still live. Once the lights are out, there’s no chance to relive the good times. We’re creating a history of games that will one day be lost to time. Development costs will be too high, servers will be shuttered, your digital copy won’t load, and the empty plastic case will only have a useless disc inside. Previous generations we had games you could replay decades from now. Multiplayer had split-screen and system linking, LAN parties. Backwards compatibility was an opportunity to keep the games you own and be able to play them in the future. Gaming was an investment in a fun hobby that was mostly affordable.
Now, we are burdened by too much choice, too many games launching in one month. Games that cost more than you can afford with time investments you can’t make. A bottomless pit of fleeting experiences all begging for your time and money. An industry that has expanded past its limits. Developers can’t afford the time and funds to make massive AAA games, players don’t have the time or money to invest. A game doesn’t even have to flop, successful games have seen studious shutter. Games with critical acclaim like Hi-Fi Rush have seen their doors close, because even a great experience doesn’t guarantee publishers won’t see their financial return or happy shareholders. Gaming used to be about innovation, preservation, and new ideas. Now it is about who can catch onto the latest fad and recreate the consistent financial gains that Fortnite has.
While I may not have instant solutions, the first step is identifying the problem.
