• Hey, guest user. Hope you're enjoying NeoGAF! Have you considered registering for an account? Come join us and add your take to the daily discourse.

Where did the AAA FPS genre disappear to?

makaveli60

Member
lol understanding?

I literally fucking asked to give a objective, factual thing to what you are talking about and got a non-answer.

So I'd say your responses are more trolling then what anyone on here is fucking asking of you.

I asked you to factually give us something measurable so we can even dissuccess this claim

You "You are trying really hard not to understand what I mean" When you could have just stated the proof, data, evidence, link, anything to prove your point.



Yea...so this off topic stuff or "k" shit is trolling.

its trying to avoid anything discussing the claim cause I'm sure neither of you could back up shit regarding this.

Its why you've both spent more time going off topic then proving any point with any data or anything really.


I'll save you the goal post too...

https://www.tweaktown.com/news/7145...sales-records-best-seller-on-steam/index.html


Not a single fucking metric supports "aaa fps GeNrE diZapPeArInG" Even with the very IP you both cited.

When a number is that fucking large, its hard to take anyone seriously going on a nostalgia trip trying to pretend a genre is dead or dying or not popular. That truth hurts big time budz.

edit. and added to ignore. You doing your best to avoid the very claim this thread is made about =)
Yet another example of that the most dense people are usually the most sure of what they say is right or even relevant. What the fuck are you even talking about here, linking sales news? You still couldn’t understand anything at all. Damn, man, you are dense 😂
 
Shame some people can't read the op, clearly mentions the games from before and the odd one that still remain like Doom.

I'd love to see GG make a Killzone on PS5 or at least a new ip in the same formula as Killzone 2. A beautiful gritty linear story driven FPS pushing the tech with some neat level design.

Another classic is the original Crysis, part linear, part open campaign, great tech. FEAR another great shooter with lean and peak, a story shooter. A random open world played in the first person shooter view is not what we're wanting, nor do we want silly busy work like you get in later Far Cry, we don't want AC odyssey the FPS, much as I like AC odyssey.

Dayglow party shooters don't appeal to me while technically a first person shooter. Apex Legends is not it, COD is just noise at this point.

I guess to the op the big money is now with the cartoony multiplayer focused games that sell endless extras and then your usual COD BF helping.

I played the original Doom, Duke Nukem, the old Medal of Honor games, Half life, Deus Ex, Crysis, Fear, Resistance Fall of Man Killzone. Bioshock, The Darkness. I love these games, I've never bought a COD game and not interested in Destiny, Fortnite, Apex Legends. I've played some fps online back in the day like Unreal tournament and up to Crysis 2 online but it's never been the main thing. A single player fps story is what I like the most in the fps genre.
 

makaveli60

Member
Shame some people can't read the op, clearly mentions the games from before and the odd one that still remain like Doom.

I'd love to see GG make a Killzone on PS5 or at least a new ip in the same formula as Killzone 2. A beautiful gritty linear story driven FPS pushing the tech with some neat level design.

Another classic is the original Crysis, part linear, part open campaign, great tech. FEAR another great shooter with lean and peak, a story shooter. A random open world played in the first person shooter view is not what we're wanting, nor do we want silly busy work like you get in later Far Cry, we don't want AC odyssey the FPS, much as I like AC odyssey.

Dayglow party shooters don't appeal to me while technically a first person shooter. Apex Legends is not it, COD is just noise at this point.

I guess to the op the big money is now with the cartoony multiplayer focused games that sell endless extras and then your usual COD BF helping.

I played the original Doom, Duke Nukem, the old Medal of Honor games, Half life, Deus Ex, Crysis, Fear, Resistance Fall of Man Killzone. Bioshock, The Darkness. I love these games, I've never bought a COD game and not interested in Destiny, Fortnite, Apex Legends. I've played some fps online back in the day like Unreal tournament and up to Crysis 2 online but it's never been the main thing. A single player fps story is what I like the most in the fps genre.
Thank you! It’s easy to understand what I meant if one doesn’t come in with the intention of arguing in bad faith.

I’d also like a new Killzone in the same vein as KZ2. That game is among the best FPS ever made.
 

calistan

Member
It’s very hard to make a game with so much stuff and implement it the way they did back then. I remember the multiplayer running at 15 FPS, but I really had the best time of my life with my friends. Storywise, musicwise, contentwise, everything was perfect.
What they did in Perfect Dark and included as standard, it’s like another game with years of community mods.
 

Valkyria

Banned
It's obvious that the kids in the 360 era has reached their 20s.
As with the other thread for Gears of war, the genre was used until saturation that gen. People were feed up with every single game being a FPS, it was even a meme, search post in this forum from 2008.
Nostalgia it's one hell of a drug. Brace yourself for nostalgia posts about Fortnite in 10 years.
 
Last edited:

Laptop1991

Member
They became part of bigger open world games, with added game mechanic's instead of just FPS mode and a linear path, with more to do and see like RPG's, we've had Wolfenstein and Doom, but i prefer the bigger open games that has FPS in them.
 
Last edited:

SHA

Member
Oye obvious that the kids in the 360 era has reached their 20s.
As with the other thread for Gears of war, the genre was used until saturation that gen. People were feed up with every single game being a FPS, it was even a meme, search post in this forum from 2008.
Nostalgia bits one hell of a drug. Brace yourself for nostalgia posts about Fortnite in 10 years.
Indies don’t count with this genre, it just doesn't work , there's alot of stuff to take into account when building fps game , the gun , the handling , the weight, sprinting, mobility, agility etc....
Indies don't have all that, even with the same dev team, they just can't have the same luxury when they used to build older games , you saw it most Indies were forgotten, it's obvious this genre has its flaws and the least healthy of them all, you can't even expect a spiritual successor from known devs, there's no way this genre is secured, most of them saw this coming down the road and planned to quit this industry.
 

SHA

Member
They don’t sell enough copies to justify the development costs. That’s why Arkane are a bit of an anomaly, although it was a pity that Deathloop sucked.

Everything is multiplayer / battle pass these days.
There's a difference between fanboys hype and marketing hype , this thing alone could drive metacritics users rating between 6 & 9 , totally unjust.
 
Last edited:

Yoboman

Member
Valve went basically pure multiplayer and output dropped immensely
Epic went multiplayer GAAS only
Bungie went multiplayer GAAS only
iD Software fumbled the bag for about 15 years before getting it right with Doom 2016
Crytek fell apart
Irrational Games fell apart
Starbreeze fell apart
DICE got butchered by EA
COD became an annual rehash

So basically GAAS happened, bad publishers who became very risk averse last gen happened and the rest of the AAA FPS industry was mismanaged

There's probably some element of talent leakage as well. These GAAS are huge and have sucked up a lot of development talent

Definitely feels like there is room for somebody to make a big splash with a new FPS though
 

Azurro

Banned
Must suck imposing limitations on your choices by requiring the marketing budget to be so high that "low budget" stuff like titanfall 2, battlefronts, rage 2, ghostwire tokyo, deathloop, and borderlands doesnt even count when theres decent stuff like turbo overkill, high on life, shadow warrior 3, warstride challenges, prodeus, serious sam, selaco and simultaneously pretend like far cry 6, half life vr and wolfenstein 2 TNC are too old. Limiting choices by marketing budget and not quality makes sense for investors and not consumers.

I don't even like FPS outside of the odd CoD campaign here and there, but I loved Titanfall 2. The problem is that EA wasn't content making some money, they wanted to make ALL the money, so they pursued something else they thought would bring in more revenue. I think with the Jedi games that attitude might be changing, but still.
 
Kind of agree. SP of FPS games was the selling point even when a MP part existed. Now it's the other way around and SP modes are the tacked on feature.
Open World collectathon games are longer, more bang for the buck, but are often just tedious and way too stretched, MP almost never clicks with me, and or Coop games are anyway not the same experience.
Shadow Warrior 3 was enjoyable, Titanfall 2 too, but only Resistance 3 via PS+ Stream felt like a "real" FPS like I used to like them.
But those kind of went extinct last gen while PS360 was their heyday. Titanfall 3 is probably only a possibility because of Apex and not because TF2 was decently selling. Killzone tried to find a new identity and did not find much love. Halo was anyway since forever not traditional; only SP.

Just collecting a handful of guns, running pretty much straightforward through a level, defeat some bosses. No Coop, no AI partner, no actual exploration. I think around '98 formula. That's too simple, while expensive, in times where games are sold as a platform to never let go of gamers' purses. I even dislike the sort of confusing level design of older shooters or modern Dooms. Every corner looking the same and basically actually kind of open worldish.
Currently playing Ryse and while it is no shooter it pretty much follows that simple way of design. No waypoints necessary (even though they have them), no backtracking, no garbage time wasting running around and doing mundane quests over and over again, just straight to the action from start to finish. Quite nice Batman like figthing, a story that could be better and more interesting but is not terribly bloated, just pure simple fun.

At least in the AAA space those are mostly gone, or they just lost their spot in the spotlight but since AA or indie games like High on Life or Shadow Warrior3 seem to fill the void somewhat, it should be fine.
It might not become ever again the spearhead magazine cover function HL2, Doom3, Far Cry and Crysis had, but at least those lower budget games will probably take some time before they also drift into the GaaS space evryone will want a piece sooner than later. Some developers will continue to make games they want to play themselves and not make factory products that ensure maximum profit over a maximum of time for the shareholders with rather little content sprinkled in, just enough to pique interest.
 
I miss Battlefield😓 i wish right now we could have upgraded Battlefield 5 with modern weapons, maps and destruction for current gen consoles/pc..
What confuses me so much is that even though BFV was shitty aesthetically, the plane crashes looked fucking mind blowing and somehow they couldn't carry that tech over to 2042. The crashes in that game look like paper-mache.
 

sainraja

Member
I honestly just think they fizzled out because AAA doesn't think that's where the money is. There's a reason why we have so many open world games. They think that's what everyone wants, and it's been exhausting for years, lol.

I'm grateful for id, and other studios (though they're AA or indie) making FPS titles that AREN'T open world, even if some are multiplayer only. I just wish AAA would give it a better shot. But maybe they feel it's too risky and just not worth the risk? I mean, development these days isn't cheap. I wouldn't be surprised.

At this point I'm hoping for a proper Quake revive that delivers like DOOM (2016) did, if not more so. Give me a campaign, give me co-op, give me multiplayer. Goddamnit.
The thing is, gamers will still complain if they actually start getting these linear shooters with a focus on story. They will pick an arbitrary reason and hammer at that over and over until it becomes a meme (even if it is just a small part of the game); open world for them makes anything better and you can't have markers on the map, no no...(they won't even bother turning them off when given the option!).
 

Azurro

Banned
The thing is, gamers will still complain if they actually start getting these linear shooters with a focus on story. They will pick an arbitrary reason and hammer at that over and over until it becomes a meme (even if it is just a small part of the game); open world for them makes anything better and you can't have markers on the map, no no...(they won't even bother turning them off when given the option!).

That doesn't matter as long as sales are good.
 

SHA

Member
They vanished because of all those cucks who kept whining about games being "only" 10 hours long, and just saturation of the genre in the 2000s.

The only place you can find those kinds of games these days is Steam store page for "boomer shooter" and "indie FPS" tags.
COD is the main reason, even frostbite complained about bf sales cause of COD, I think when cod market share keeps shrinking in size miracle will happen and save industry, and I believe in miracles.
 

Ecotic

Member
I know what you're talking about OP. I remember in 2004 when Halo 2, Half-Life 4, Doom 3, and Far Cry all came out and it seemed like first-person shooters were the flagship genre that every major industry player competed in to prove they were on top of the universe. And for an extended period of time it felt like it would always be that way, like it was the natural order of things. Much like 2D platformers felt during their long reign in the 8-bit and 16-bit era.

I think economically AAA FPS's fell apart, for many reasons. Big hits these days like Fortnite have tonal elasticity, that's a game where people can compete in a combat setting while still wearing cartoony outfits and the game can have universe crossovers with everything from DC Comics to Marvel to Dragonball Z. AAA FPS's have a locked violent tone, and a narrow fictional setting, which doesn't lend itself well to that. And, I imagine it's hard to greenlight a project that aims for the same technological impact of a game like Half-Life 2 or Crysis. Lastly, maybe the target audience just aged out and moved on to other things in life. Whoever was building a gaming PC to play those premier games in the 2000's may have simply moved on.
 

makaveli60

Member
I know what you're talking about OP. I remember in 2004 when Halo 2, Half-Life 4, Doom 3, and Far Cry all came out and it seemed like first-person shooters were the flagship genre that every major industry player competed in to prove they were on top of the universe. And for an extended period of time it felt like it would always be that way, like it was the natural order of things. Much like 2D platformers felt during their long reign in the 8-bit and 16-bit era.

I think economically AAA FPS's fell apart, for many reasons. Big hits these days like Fortnite have tonal elasticity, that's a game where people can compete in a combat setting while still wearing cartoony outfits and the game can have universe crossovers with everything from DC Comics to Marvel to Dragonball Z. AAA FPS's have a locked violent tone, and a narrow fictional setting, which doesn't lend itself well to that. And, I imagine it's hard to greenlight a project that aims for the same technological impact of a game like Half-Life 2 or Crysis. Lastly, maybe the target audience just aged out and moved on to other things in life. Whoever was building a gaming PC to play those premier games in the 2000's may have simply moved on.
Yeah, 2004 was something else. One of the best years in gaming, IMO.
 

Stamps1646

Member
There out there, keep looking.

Some recommendations:
Metro 2033, Last Light, Exodus
Titanfall 2
Prey 2017
Bulletstorm
Resident Evil 7 and 8
Deus Ex: Human Revolution and Mankind Divided *non-stealth route*
Fallout 3, 4 and New Vegas
Borderlands 2 and 3
Dying Light + The Following expansion *using a gun makes for intense situations*
Tiny Tina's Wonderlands
Halo 2, 3 and Reach
R.A.G.E. and 2
The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape From Butcher Bay
Singularity
Battlefield 3, Bad Company 2
Doom 2016 and Doom: Eternal
Call of Duty: World at War, 2, Black Ops, and MW 2

Upcoming titles:
S.T.A.L.K.E.R 2: Heart of Chornobyl
Nightingale
 
You're looking in the wrong place mate. AAA FPS isn't the experience you describe in the OP. You seek games like these below, more AA or Indie based FPS. Shit gets wild, I highly recommend some of these games. Just get out of that mindset it all has to have the Fortnite production team and budget. The tools to build these sorts of retro FPS or boomer shooters are really enabling indies/small teams to deliver this content over say AAA studio stuff.
















Also did you miss playing Titanfall 2? If so, go buy it and play it.
 

StreetsofBeige

Gold Member
You're looking in the wrong place mate. AAA FPS isn't the experience you describe in the OP. You seek games like these below, more AA or Indie based FPS. Shit gets wild, I highly recommend some of these games. Just get out of that mindset it all has to have the Fortnite production team and budget. The tools to build these sorts of retro FPS or boomer shooters are really enabling indies/small teams to deliver this content over say AAA studio stuff.
















Also did you miss playing Titanfall 2? If so, go buy it and play it.

I agree.

I think what the OP wants are those kinds of games (which exist), but they are still the top budget/top selling games like 20 years ago.

So all the popular CODs and Fortnites disappear from gaming, so what's left are the older school shooter games we all played 15-20 years ago and they then become the best sellers like back then.
 
LMAO. Exactly. Redfall is not AAA, not is produs or any of the indie stuff they mentioned.

The trouble is return on investment for AAA spend. Why build a game once and sell once when you can build GaaS/MTX like Apex or Fortnite for far more recurring revenue over time?

Also, we've just had games like Destiny 2, Metro, Doom Eternal etc. I mean how much FPS do you want?

I think if we see shared worlds/MMO and campaign/coop stuff overtake MTX of PvP in the FPS space we'll see more of what the OP describes evolving in AAA games.
 
Goldeneye Remaster got confirmed so it'll be out soon. Also, two of the best FPS teams, id software and Machine Games are taking a break from releases. I have a feeling there'll be a new Doom and Wolfenstein game in the next few years
 
You're looking in the wrong place mate. AAA FPS isn't the experience you describe in the OP.
Yeah, there's some serious luddism in action here.
I've played all them Dooms and Quakes the years they came out. Their design was dictated by technological limitations. Even back then the devs wanted big-ass cities and complex progression systems in their games, they just couldn't do it properly.




If you showed Cyberpunk to people from 1998, and then tried convincing them that what they saw is not a cutting edge AAA FPS, they'd call you insane. And they'd be right.

If you want corridor shooters, they make like 5 of them every month. Some really good ones too. They're not cutting edge anymore because from the getgo they don't have the capacity to evolve the genre now. They were a crutch. A stepping stone to real AAA FPS that we have now: complex, systems-ridden, big-ass worlds with smooth gunplay and movement, that are too big to fit just one genre, let alone be condescedingly called a "doom clone".

Games like Prey 2017 or Destiny 2 would be my absolute wet dreams if they came out when I was a kid. They exceed what I, as a big FPS fan, even thought was possible in videogames back at the time. Cyberpunk shits all over the vision of old Duke Nukem Forever I had in my head after that 2001 trailer. But hey, I guess they're not big budget FPS, and don't evolve the genre because reasons.

The AAA FPS didn't disappear, it just grew so much that you struggle to recognize it anymore. Accept it.
If you wanna see an olympian swimmer perform, you don't limit them to a kiddy pool.

-Sincerely your 90's kid.
 
Last edited:
Destiny 2, thinking about a player new to the game as it is today, the art, experiences, characters, mechanics, movement shooting, team work puzzles, audio, action, loot...yes a 90s kids' wet dream even today.
 
I would settle for a Counter-Strike: Condition Zero-tier FPS in with modern fidelity at this point.

The first two Soldier of Fortune games were pretty baller in their day, even though they weren't exactly critical darlings.

Anyone remember Kingpin Life of Crime on PC? There is no way that holds up at all but I remember having a blast with it. :LOL:
 
Kinda bizarre that this genre was abandoned. I guess CoD at their lunch

But....I would think an open world AAA FPS with awesome mechanics would do really, really well. I was disappointed that Sony stopped making at least one flagship FPS franchise
 

teokrazia

Member
Is still my fav genre, but after the inflation of the PS3/360 era I'm happy that we having just fev but memorable entries (DOOM 2016/Eternal, Prey, Titanfall 2, Wolfenstein: TNO and TOB) .

Man, the market was flooded with so much shit with everybody trying so hard to jump on the bandwagon, while game design generally chased a dumbization that almost killed what FPS were truly about.

Can't lie, I'd like to see more AAA SP FPS nowaday, but I'm fine with the current situation, especially if the indie scene is so alive and kicking, delivering some abosolute gems.
 

OZ9000

Banned
Doom 2016
Doom Eternal

Upcoming:
Atomic Heart

I can't think of any other modern AAA FPS games which are good as of late.
 

Bernkastel

Ask me about my fanboy energy!
Raven is sadly nothing but QA testers now
Well Phil mentioned Hexen. Also,
After the acquisition was announced, Raven software replied to this old video from 2021, the video was already almost 18 months old by then


image.png
 

rofif

Can’t Git Gud
You literally just lied, how are they not AAA shooters?
  1. Atomic Heart - AA at best. Maybe even indie budget. We don't know if it will be a FPS campaign or something weird.
  2. Ken Levine 2: Clown Cars - We don't know the budget. Looks to be immersive sim. Could be anything. Don't really look AAA yet.
  3. Redfall - lol. It's 4 player coop something. Definitely not classic AAA fps.
  4. Bethesda's next games may be announced at some point. - ok? I might announce I work on a new game next
  5. Halo hit not long ago. - New halo was shit. Terrible campaign that has nothing to do with real Halo campaign. But this is the only one that fits. It's AAA fps. Just bad.
  6. Sony has new studios working. - ok? Maybe? yes?
How I have lied? How are any of these games similar to half-life, Killzone and similar AAA fps franchises?
You have a misconception what this thread is about. We are not talking about AAA games with first person perspective. We are talking about classic AAA fps genre. One that thrived on xbox 360/ps3 era.
 
  1. Atomic Heart - AA at best. Maybe even indie budget. We don't know if it will be a FPS campaign or something weird.
  2. Ken Levine 2: Clown Cars - We don't know the budget. Looks to be immersive sim. Could be anything. Don't really look AAA yet.
  3. Redfall - lol. It's 4 player coop something. Definitely not classic AAA fps.
  4. Bethesda's next games may be announced at some point. - ok? I might announce I work on a new game next
  5. Halo hit not long ago. - New halo was shit. Terrible campaign that has nothing to do with real Halo campaign. But this is the only one that fits. It's AAA fps. Just bad.
  6. Sony has new studios working. - ok? Maybe? yes?
How I have lied? How are any of these games similar to half-life, Killzone and similar AAA fps franchises?
You have a misconception what this thread is about. We are not talking about AAA games with first person perspective. We are talking about classic AAA fps genre. One that thrived on xbox 360/ps3 era.
You’re emotional, you listed literal AAA games but let your emotions get in the way of rational thinking. Also some AA games look and play better than some AAA games you really have no valid point in this thread.
 
Last edited:
Top Bottom