What is the Future of RTS?
We would not have the LCS, the CDL, or the VCT without SC. StarCraft paved the way for the modern esports landscape by proving there was huge demand for spectators to watch the best players in the world compete in popular video games. Decades later, other genres have surpassed Real Time Strategy in popularity and many called for the dreaded "dead game" label to be placed on games like StarCraft 2 and Age of Empires.
However, is the genre truly dead? Stormgate's recent Kickstarter raised over $2M in just a few weeks, so clearly there are plenty of gamers who would like to see a modern take on the genre that made all the big esports possible. Street Fighter 6 and Tekken 8 have shown that modern updates to established genres can breathe new life into an esports scene. So the question has to be asked, did RTS really die?
Or has it held firm this whole time, vibing in the background while other genres jockey for position at the top of the pile. In our latest documentary, we spoke to RTS legends like Artosis, MaNa, and Hera along with executives from Stormgate maker Frost Giant Studios to understand the current state of the RTS genre, and what a modern, free-to-play title could mean for its future.
