[Dr. Feel Good]

When GTA III launched last generation there was such a huge impact on the gaming industry that it seemed like almost every developer pushed for more open world games. Reviewers began to criticize games that seemed linear, and expressed a need for more freedom. With GTA's success we saw a lot of imitators, some games like True Crime were blatant rip offs of the GTA formula, while others were more subtle about it like Scarface. The open world and intricate, vast level design would be applied to more and more games that didn't even necessarily need it. Games like Kirby Air Ride even had open world modes to attract to new gamers. Ultimately the genre as a whole became some of the best selling games of the generation and GTA was a huge contributor to innovation during the generation.

As the Xbox 360/PS3 approached it seemed like the gaming industry was chasing for the first big sandbox title. THQ promised to get there first with Saints Row, and Rockstar would hit next with the much anticipated GTA 4. Both arrived, both were well received, and both sold well but... that was it. Sure Crackdown was a unique attempt, but it flopped. GTA saw a lot of backlash and were still waiting on 5. Hell even the PSP hoped GTA would make it an instant success and that didn't even work. No one really seemed to miss the sandbox genre, and developers sort of just moved on.

I feel like this generation has been similar but rather the sandbox genre it has been the FPS genre. FPS have always been big, but it seems like there has been an overemphasis on their development. Everyone thought Red Steel would be the golden star of the Wii, and was one of the most hyped titles. Most new IP's seem to fall under the FPS category. And Call of Duty seems to be the breakout success that every developer wants to chase. But as we move forward into the next generation is this going to pass? Reports have said Call of Duty is slowing, Halo doesn't have nearly the impact on the industry it once did, and licensed FPS don't even appear to sell all that much.

Will something take over the FPS market as the go-to money maker next generation? Or are we once again stuck with FPS?

[Gez]

I hope so, but my gut feeling is no. People like shooting shit.

Not sure why you think the Sandbox genre is fading, if anything we got more of them this gen than we did last. JRPGs is a better comparison.

Halo doesn't have nearly the impact on the industry it once did

Not sure if this is true.

[scytheavatar]

Sandbox genre got killed by the rising development costs which makes sandbox games difficult to be finanicial viable. Same goes for JRPGs. While brain dead FPSs are on the rise because they are slowly becoming one of the few finanicial viable option for game developers. As development costs continue to skyrocket FPS's dominance is only going to turn from bad to worse.

[Finaika]

I hope so!

[Nirolak]

As the Xbox 360/PS3 approached it seemed like the gaming industry was chasing for the first big sandbox title. THQ promised to get there first with Saints Row, and Rockstar would hit next with the much anticipated GTA 4. Both arrived, both were well received, and both sold well but... that was it. Sure Crackdown was a unique attempt, but it flopped. GTA saw a lot of backlash and were still waiting on 5. Hell even the PSP hoped GTA would make it an instant success and that didn't even work. No one really seemed to miss the sandbox genre, and developers sort of just moved on.

Are we not counting Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, and Skyrim here?

I thought the general appeal of "sandbox games" for a lot of people was the open world with a variety of things to do.

[Derrick01]

I think we'll be stuck with FPS for a while. It ties into the dudebro culture of guns and loving to shoot shit. That culture isn't going to change in America anytime soon.

[Dragonzord]

Sandbox games aren't strictly modern settings...

[Finaika]

I think we'll be stuck with FPS for a while. It ties into the dudebro culture of guns and loving to shoot shit. That culture isn't going to change in America anytime soon.

I wish we were in the medieval age, people will be using swords & shit so there will be more JRPGs.

[Eusis]

I suspect we saw fewer but better sandbox games... but I'm not completely sure, given I paid more attention to current ones than I did PS2 ones. Kind of ironic if they really are sliding though, I wanted this generation half because the raw power could make them MUCH better, in theory anyway. In practice... actually, I'm not really sure many of those could've been done as well on PS2/Xbox, even with graphical hits, something like Assassin's Creed seems like it'd have been problematic.

And now that I think about it, I DO hope the same exact thing happens for FPSes. They got too homogenized this generation, I'd like it if they just snapped for the next generation and we started to see more variety, much like we have with sandbox games this gen versus most of last gen.

[TheGreatMightyPoo]

The FPS genre will never fade nor likely advance much.

It's here to stay.

[BoSox06DH]

I think the FPS genre will be on top for a while longer. The market is and will get oversaturated to the point where people will actually get bored of it and move to something else. Platformers were on top for a period, but got oversaturated during the 1990's more or less. I'm interested to see what will be the genre that overtakes FPS.

[Boogdud]

We can dream.

[Eusis]

The FPS genre will never fade nor likely advance much. It's here to stay.

It's definitely one of the most enduring, but unless it's reaching critical mass it IS probable we'd see it diminish. I don't think it's held the weight on PC it once did (though that may be largely due to console migration), and at least the styles have shifted, Doom and Call of Duty are VERY different games.

[Lemonte]

I hope Just Cause 3 will be awesome.

[NullPointer]

Nope. We just need more sandbox shooters.

In other words where is my Just Cause 3?

[InertiaXr]

Are we not counting Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, and Skyrim here? I thought the general appeal of "sandbox games" for a lot of people was the open world with a variety of things to do.

Risen, Batman AC, Dark Souls, Dead Island, inFamous, LA Noire, Fallout, Mafia 2, Fable, Just Cause, Dead Rising not counted too? Seems like a lot of decent/high quality sandbox games to me.

[Teknopathetic]

Sandbox genre hasn't really faded so much as it's been assimilated by other genres.

[animlboogy]

Fewer bad crime games, just as many if not a lot more sandbox games. Certainly open-ended gameplay where the game kind of tells the story instead of blunt narrative is gaining traction.

FPS games are big but not due to linearity. It's the rise of online multiplayer.

I don't think the OP really thought through the state of the industry beyond, "where did all the GTA clones go?"

Very strange to say open world isn't a big deal anymore following the fairly recent huge releases like Mass Effect 3 and Skyrim.

[shinra-bansho]

How has the sandbox genre faded? Also, no.

If any genre has faded in prominence it's the JRPG genre.

[Elsolar]

I don't think FPS's are this gen's equivalent of the sandbox game like you assert. First person shooters have always been popular, since their inception, and third person shooters were popular even before then. With the exception of Call of Duty's explosion of popularity (popularity that it can be credited mostly to its ability to attract casual gamers and non-gamers), the genre is no more or less popular than it was last gen, or will be next gen. It's a constant in the industry, and for good reason. Shooting stuff is fun, and doing so from a first-person perspective is the most intuitive way to do it.

[Basileus777]

Yeah, Assassin's Creed, Red Dead, Grand Theft Auto, Fallout, Elder Scrolls...those sandbox games really faded away.

[Anth0ny]

The FPS genre will never fade nor likely advance much. It's here to stay.

Pretty much.

It's been huge on consoles since Goldeneye really. Halo carried the torch last gen, and passed it on to COD this gen.

The better question is, will COD dominate next gen like it did this gen? I think a new IP may step up to the plate.

[Eusis]

Risen, Batman AC, Dark Souls, Dead Island, inFamous, LA Noire, Fallout, Mafia 2, Fable, Just Cause, Dead Rising not counted too? Seems like a lot of decent/high quality sandbox games to me.

Dark Souls and Fable are VERY MUCH borderline cases to me. Actually, I'd say including Dark Souls opens up a can of worms equivalent to "what is an RPG?" that creates a giant mess out of all of this, because then we could start saying Metroid and Zelda are "sandbox games".

But... yeah, you look at just the games that are inarguably sandbox titles, and it's easy to tell the genre's in a way better place than it was last generation when it was mostly dominated by more exact copies of GTA. FPS actually degenerated in that regard, bu t if it swings around through the efforts of games like Deus Ex and Bioshock we'll all be better for it.

[Orca]

I don't think FPS's are this gen's equivalent of the sandbox game like you assert. First person shooters have always been popular, since their inception, and third person shooters were popular even before then. With the exception of Call of Duty's explosion of popularity (popularity that it can be credited mostly to its ability to attract casual gamers and non-gamers), the genre is no more or less popular than it was last gen, or will be next gen. It's a constant in the industry, and for good reason. Shooting stuff is fun, and doing so from a first-person perspective is the most intuitive way to do it.

FPS were dying off before Half-Life gave the genre a kick in the pants and showed you could actually do storytelling pretty well within its confines.

I think the genre needs another kick in the ass, on the multiplayer front. Experience-based progression helped reinvigorate things, but people are growing tired of the same basic modes. There needs to be movement there, something like Killzone's multiplayer switching modes inside the course of a single match maybe. Or a persistent war like Chromehounds had, so what you do has meaning and keeps you logging back in.

Better looking, better sounding...that doesn't kickstart a genre. Better playing and more immersion through the feature set - that gets people excited again.

[DidntKnowJack]

I also disagree that sandbox games have faded very much. Hell, games as recent as Infamous 2, Arkham City (to a degree), Dead Island, and Saints Row the Third continue to be fairly popular.

Unless you're talking strictly about GTA clones.

[les papillons sexuels]

When GTA III launched last generation there was such a huge impact on the gaming industry that it seemed like almost every developer pushed for more open world games. Reviewers began to criticize games that seemed linear, and expressed a need for more freedom. With GTA's success we saw a lot of imitators, some games like True Crime were blatant rip offs of the GTA formula, while others were more subtle about it like Scarface. The open world and intricate, vast level design would be applied to more and more games that didn't even necessarily need it. Games like Kirby Air Ride even had open world modes to attract to new gamers. Ultimately the genre as a whole became some of the best selling games of the generation and GTA was a huge contributor to innovation during the generation. As the Xbox 360/PS3 approached it seemed like the gaming industry was chasing for the first big sandbox title. THQ promised to get there first with Saints Row, and Rockstar would hit next with the much anticipated GTA 4. Both arrived, both were well received, and both sold well but... that was it. Sure Crackdown was a unique attempt, but it flopped. GTA saw a lot of backlash and were still waiting on 5. Hell even the PSP hoped GTA would make it an instant success and that didn't even work. No one really seemed to miss the sandbox genre, and developers sort of just moved on. I feel like this generation has been similar but rather the sandbox genre it has been the FPS genre. FPS have always been big, but it seems like there has been an overemphasis on their development. Everyone thought Red Steel would be the golden star of the Wii, and was one of the most hyped titles. Most new IP's seem to fall under the FPS category. And Call of Duty seems to be the breakout success that every developer wants to chase. But as we move forward into the next generation is this going to pass? Reports have said Call of Duty is slowing, Halo doesn't have nearly the impact on the industry it once did, and licensed FPS don't even appear to sell all that much. Will something take over the FPS market as the go-to money maker next generation? Or are we once again stuck with FPS?

yes, because this generation we didn't have

crackdown 1 and 2
infamous 1 and 2
prototype
saints row 1-3
gta 4 (and the 2 episodes)
mafia
la noir
just cause 1 and 2
yakuza
red dead redemption


oh and lets not forget that.
GTA 5 is coming out
prototype 2
sleeping dogs

and also hybrid games like:
dead rising and assassins creed and the various fps's MMO's and RPG's with sandbox like world and mission structures.

[Neuromancer]

Ignoring the part about sandbox/open world games fading, Id say not for the foreseeable future. FPS's are the most immersive kind of game in my opinion since you're literally looking out of the eyes of your character. I can't see the desire for that changing any time soon.

[KenOD]

I'm glad sandbox went away for the most part outside a dozen of titles and instead we got open world. Similar, but not quite the same due to a more focused experience (just driving and exploring in Burnout Paradise for example or assassinating/rallying in Assassin's Creed).

I don't see FPS going away. Life didn't change that much when we went from Doom clones to Quake imitators or Sci-Fi shooters or now with "modern" or near-future. As stated, people love to shoot things, the difference will just be in what different setting and with what different focus. FPS just provides a lot to do for immersion, technical aspects, competition, ease of placement in most any setting or story, etc.

[clutch.as.it.gets.]

Weren`t there a lot of openworld/sandbox games this generation?

GTA 4
Red Dead Redemption
Infamous 1/2
Assassins Creed 1/2/Brother./Revelations
Just Cause 1/2
Red Faction Guerrilla
Saints Row 1/2/3
Crackdown 1/2
Oblivion
Skyrim
Fallout 3
Dead Island
Borderlands 1/2
Burnout Paradise
Far Cry 2

I don`t think that genre vanished.

[NullPointer]

Ignoring the part about sandbox/open world games fading, Id say not for the foreseeable future. FPS's are the most immersive kind of game in my opinion since you're literally looking out of the eyes of your character. I can't see the desire for that changing any time soon.

Cliff B was also right in saying that shooters have the benefit of truly forcing the player to immerse themselves into the 3D environment, since almost everything plays a part cover, concealment, movement and sight lines - more than most genres. I'm paraphrasing here of course but I think his point was a pretty good one.

So no, I don't think they'll fade, but I do think we'll see more interesting evolutions and hybrids.

[Chairman Yang]

I feel like FPSes have already faded commercially, judging by the small chance of success for games in the genre (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=459661). In fact, I get the impression that a typical "sandbox" game has more commercial viability than a shooter.

[Eusis]

I think the genre could stand to gain a lot just by looking at older titles. Take mission objectives for example, in almost any modern shooter they're practically atrophied leftovers from when shooter stages were more open and wanted to evolve beyond Doom's "find the keys and get to the exit killing everything along the way", which makes it ironic given in many ways those modern games are even MORE basic than stuff like Doom. Including mini-maps, showing your progress in clearing a level, and perhaps mission markers could do a lot to alleviate the issues of getting lost in older games.

I feel like FPSes have already faded commercially, judging by the small chance of success for games in the genre (http://www.neogaf.com/forum/showthread.php?t=459661). In fact, I get the impression that a typical "sandbox" game has more commercial viability than a shooter.

Yeah. Those, like RPGs, are more reasonable to me to buy at full price or at least a higher one. I rent a Modern Warfare game, blaze through the campaign, and if I don't care to play online because it's faded in popularity among people I know or it's been disregarded due to some less desirable changes then there's practically no worth left. Something like Saints Row the Third though, honestly one of the more basic open world games, still got something like 30 hours of playtime, and if I paid $60 that'd be about $2 per hour AND for one of the more memorable experiences last year.

[NullPointer]

I think the genre could stand to gain a lot just by looking at older titles. Take mission objectives for example, in almost any modern shooter they're practically atrophied leftovers from when shooter stages were more open and wanted to evolve beyond Doom's "find the keys and get to the exit killing everything along the way", which makes it ironic given in many ways those modern games are even MORE basic than stuff like Doom. Including mini-maps, showing your progress in clearing a level, and perhaps mission markers could do a lot to alleviate the issues of getting lost in older games.

On this point, more people should give Hard Reset a try. Its fantastic.

[Poimandres]

FPS games have been extremelly popular since Doom. The only reason they weren't as wide spread on consoles until the PS2/Xbox gen was because of tech and control contraints.

I hope the break out hits for next generation aren't shooters, but the FPS will remain a very popular genre for decades to come.

[Sky Chief]

This gen there have been many more sandbox games and they have generally been far superior to what we saw lasts gen

[Reallink]

Are we not counting Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, and Skyrim here? I thought the general appeal of "sandbox games" for a lot of people was the open world with a variety of things to do.

Surely you jest.

[Dr.Palutena]

Is sandbox really even a genre? I always thought of it as a gameplay aspect but not a genre. As such I dont think we will see quite the same thing happen with FPSes.

[RedSwirl]

Yeah, a lot of sandbox games came out this gen, they just weren't all the rage like last gen. They took their place among the other genres.

Also, I don't think FPSs were the big thing this game. It was really third person shooters and western RPGs that took over this gen. FPSs have been popular since DOOM 19 years ago, and popular on consoles since GoldenEye 15 years ago.

As for what genre is gonna take over next, it'll be whatever the killer apps for the Wii-U, PS4, and next Xbox end up being. If there's any justice in this world that killer app will be an adventure game or something.

[Fjordson]

Are we not counting Assassin's Creed, Red Dead Redemption, and Skyrim here? I thought the general appeal of "sandbox games" for a lot of people was the open world with a variety of things to do.

I was gonna say...the sandbox genre is more popular than ever I think. GTA IV and Red Dead were Rockstar's biggest hits, Skyrim and Fallout 3 the biggest for Bethesda, Saints Row sold better than the first two, Assassin's Creed is huge, and so on and so forth...

As for the FPS genre, I don't really see it fading much either. People love their shooters.

[HK-47]

The shooter will never die. It fills a basic gaming need. Namely killing dudes with guns.

[Raonak]

but they've been shitloads of sandbox games this gen.
feels like more than last generation tbh.


speaking of which. JUST CAUSE 3 gogogogog

[BigDug13]

FPS games have been extremelly popular since Doom. The only reason they weren't as wide spread on consoles until the PS2/Xbox gen was because of tech and control contraints. I hope the break out hits for next generation aren't shooters, but the FPS will remain a very popular genre for decades to come.

Weren't as widespread on PS2/xbox, but didn't Halo1/2 pretty much explode the genre in that generation?

Also as for sandbox and FPS and RPG, I think Borderlands should be given mention for combining open world (though you had to load into world "zones" which is an aspect the second game is eliminating) with FPS and Diablo-style leveling and random weapon/armor generation.

[EvilDick34]

FPS games ushered gaming into mainstream society aka DOOM, QUAKE. FPS will never die, it is a cornerstone of gaming.

[NullPointer]

Also as for sandbox and FPS and RPG, I think Borderlands should be given mention for combining open world (though you had to load into world "zones" which is an aspect the second game is eliminating) with FPS and Diablo-style leveling and random weapon/armor generation.

Still needs light crafting and paper doll customization methinks. But its a fine start.

[specialguy]

no.

i dont think it ever will.

FPS is the most fully realized 3D worlds in our TV's so to speak, the culmination of this hobby. The very best graphics always belong to FPS.

[walking fiend]

I think it is possible; FPS was at one point extremely popular on PC, but now it isn't (for example compared to MMOs, etc.)

However, actually the case maybe that players moved to console for fps?

[Grayman]

Is sandbox really even a genre? I always thought of it as a gameplay aspect but not a genre. As such I dont think we will see quite the same thing happen with FPSes.

I look at FPS being a genre in the way you are looking at sandbox. It is a view point and the most common verb in gaming. FPS cannot "die" or fall in notoriety the way that fighting games and adventure games did because the label is too broad. Deathmatch died, FPS were getting more popular as it happened, PC died (LOL) and FPS got more popular, Racing will be dead and forgotten before the loose label of FPS can no longer be applied to very popular video games.

The percent of sales they command in the console industry may fall a lot if Call of Duty is not the top dog but some form of first person view and shooting guys will always be popular.

[GodfatherX]

regardless if its a shooter or a rpg like skyrim, I prefer to experience things in the first person perspective. Not that I don't like 3rd person games (enjoy uncharted, batman, zelda ect ect) but I prefer 1st person as I find it more immersive

[Grayman]

I think it is possible; FPS was at one point extremely popular on PC, but now it isn't (for example compared to MMOs, etc.) However, actually the case maybe that players moved to console for fps?

In that case MMOs(Wow) got a huge expansion of lapsed and new gamers. Counter Strike, either released version is probably bigger than most MMOs.

[NullPointer]

One thing I will predict the demise of is the standard multiplayer modes you'll find in all shooters: Vanilla Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Capture the Flag and King of the Hill games. At this point those modes have been done to death and I don't think you garner any excitement when announcing them in new games.

I expect major changes to the formula next gen, and those changes will have ramifications on just how we define the shooter genre.