With Halo being so popular, why aren't arena shooters?

A

Aesthet1c

Member
Halo is one of the biggest console franchises available. Most of it's praise seems to be stemmed from it's multiplayer, which got me thinking..

Why haven't games like Unreal Tournament and Quake fared better this generation? Their gameplay style is basically a faster paced version of Halo. When you look at the core of both games, they are both very similar.

For a while I believed the argument that there just isn't a market for that kind of game anymore, with the rise in popularity of military shooters. If that were the case though, how has Halo become such the juggernaut that it is?

Is it developer support? Are they just not trying hard enough? Have people given up on names like UT and Quake? Is it that console gamers don't recognize names like UT and Quake, and PC players have moved onto different genres of video games?

I'm really looking forward to Halo 4, but mainly because I am an avid UT fan, and I think Halo 4 will fill that void for me. Still, I can't help but wonder why there aren't more (or any) fast paced, sci-fi, arena shooters on the market.
 
Aesthet1c said:
I'm really looking forward to Halo 4, but mainly because I am an avid UT fan, and I think Halo 4 will fill that void for me. Still, I can't help but wonder why there aren't more (or any) fast paced, sci-fi, arena shooters on the market.
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I know that feel bro. I love arena shooters.
 
I, personally, will not touch a shooter that isn't futuristic or that's not like Unreal Tournament or Halo... (Crysis also fits in there for me.)

Planning on getting Black Ops 2 because it is set in the future and hoping to see some cool stuff there but Black Ops 2 is where I draw the line. UT is by FAR the most enjoyable shooter I've EVER played.

I don't enjoy the realistic, modern shooters. They're overdone and boring now. I enjoyed the first Crysis and am also looking forward to Crysis 3 for that matter.
 
Because the inadequacies of dual analog and lack of inputs on a gamepad in general prevent this type of game from reaching a polished enough state for it to be wildly successful in the mainstream console marketplace.

Randolph Freelander said:
At all or well? Because they did release Quake 4 for 360. I assume it's still playable.
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Not really. The game hits 20 fps a ton, which is completely unacceptable for a competitive shooter of any kind.
 
Randolph Freelander said:
At all or well? Because they did release one for 360. I assume it's still playable.
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I honestly cannot even imagine how horrible the multiplayer would be on a gamepad. I can't see anyone playing that for more than a few rounds without throwing the controller out the window.
 
I don't think it's anything to do with the gamepad, no one gives a shit about them on PC either. UT3 did crap, and Quake Live is a money pit.
 
Because gamepads, to put it bluntly. You could probably make an arena shooter around the limitations of console controls, but no one probably cares enough to bother.

Hence, we don't get a lot of arena shooters in the first place and the ones we do get and that get ported to console aren't terribly polished or great and are still basically PC games smashed onto a gamepad.

ii Stryker said:
lol, COD has replaced arena shooters not Halo.
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And yeah, CoD is probably a more natural extension of twitch shooters than Halo is.
 
pa22word said:
Because the inadequacies of dual analog and lack of inputs on a gamepad in general prevent this type of game from reaching a polished enough state for it to be wildly successful in the mainstream console marketplace.
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as much as i hate this controllers vs kb/m shit (comfy couch PC gamer here) this is 100% true.

i can't imagine playing something as twitchy as UT or Q3 with a controller.
 
StuBurns said:
I don't think it's anything to do with the gamepad, no one gives a shit about them on PC either. UT3 did crap, and Quake Live is a money pit.
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UT3 was a bad game. Quake Live still has people playing it every day (like me). It's not making great money because it is literally a repacked thirteen year-old game.

EDIT: For what it's worth, there are way more subscribers to QL now than there ever has been before.
 
Twitch shooters don't work all that well on a controller. Unfortunately the genre was built around the speed of a mouse. That console games actually have 180 degree turn buttons reinforces my point.
 
we're just moving out of the dark age of lowest console dominator game design. they'll come.

shootmania and 2GD's game being the vanguard of a new generation.
 
Fugu said:
UT3 was a bad game. Quake Live still has people playing it every day (like me). It's not making great money because it is literally a repacked thirteen year-old game.

EDIT: For what it's worth, there are way more subscribers to QL now than there ever has been before.
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It makes no difference, it doesn't even make money, which means it's done as far as publishers are concerned.
 
StuBurns said:
It makes no difference, it doesn't even make money, which means it's done as far as publishers are concerned.
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It definitely makes a difference when you say "the latest Quake game didn't make money" versus "the latest Quake game -- which was actually a free browser re-release of a thirteen year-old game -- didn't make money". Publishers are capable of reading past the seventh word in the sentence.
 
Because consoles are more popular so FPS designs that cater toward the dual-stick control style are the ones selling better
 
Quake was terribly popular back then.
 
pa22word said:
Because the inadequacies of dual analog and lack of inputs on a gamepad in general prevent this type of game from reaching a polished enough state for it to be wildly successful in the mainstream console marketplace.
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Arena shooters aren't all that popular on the PC anymore either. I would argue that Batlefield and Counter Strike were the beginning of the end for that sub genre on the PC platform. The mainstream prefers weapons and movement that are grounded in reality and CoD and Gears just rode that wave onto the consoles.
 
ghst said:
we're just moving out of the dark age of lowest console dominator game design. they'll come.

shootmania and 2GD's game being the vanguard of a new generation.
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Shootmania suuuuuuuuccccccckkkkkkkkkssssss

Also, 2GD is making an arena shooter?
 
ADS shooters like CoD do a better job of providing gameplay hooks that pander to the lowest common denominator among gamers. I guess arena shooters tend to be less accessible to casual gamers?
 
Aesthet1c said:
Halo is one of the biggest console franchises available. Most of it's praise seems to be stemmed from it's multiplayer, which got me thinking..

Why haven't games like Unreal Tournament and Quake fared better this generation? Their gameplay style is basically a faster paced version of Halo. When you look at the core of both games, they are both very similar.

For a while I believed the argument that there just isn't a market for that kind of game anymore, with the rise in popularity of military shooters. If that were the case though, how has Halo become such the juggernaut that it is?

Is it developer support? Are they just not trying hard enough? Have people given up on names like UT and Quake? Is it that console gamers don't recognize names like UT and Quake, and PC players have moved onto different genres of video games?

I'm really looking forward to Halo 4, but mainly because I am an avid UT fan, and I think Halo 4 will fill that void for me. Still, I can't help but wonder why there aren't more (or any) fast paced, sci-fi, arena shooters on the market.
Click to expand...

Fast paced arena combat on <30fps and gamepads doesn't seem to very well recieved. Besides Halo is last gen, it is all about modern military shooters with rpg leveling and killstreaks.
 
Yeah, I've never understood that. Especially when arena shooters are so strong and well marketed on 360/PS3.
 
Shooters geared around twiddle sticks have a lower barrier to entry and are thus popular. Copycat games industry followed suit in an attempt at mass appeal. Outliers exist and will hopefully mark the start of a competitive PC FPS renaissance.
 
Tribes Ascend, but that is more teambased/classbased. I still think that a good arenastyle could be popular enough on the pc but it would probably has to be f2p to get big enough playerbase.
 
Awesome to hear 2GD is making something!

Also, I looked at Warsow a bit, and it looks pretty fun, but I feel like the only games made in this genre are low budget bare bones shooters. It would be awesome to have a high budget game with the features of current games like Halo 4.

Why don't PC gamers care for this anymore? Surely there are plenty of PC only games that still sell well. There has to be plenty of crossover, and I would bet that a lot of PC gamers enjoy Halo as well.

Did developers and publishers just look at the failure of UT3 and Quake 4 and decide it's not worth the risk?
 
Besides Quake III Arena, I remember playing Doom 3 MP for quite a bit. Are more people playing multiplayer since BFG released on PC? Or, does it even have multiplayer?
 
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