14 DAY TRIAL // Relic Entertainment, the famous real time strategy game developer responsible for Company of Heroes and Warhammer 40k: Dawn of War, has apparently stumbled upon an idea for how to make the genre playable on consoles.
The jury has been out for a long time as far as strategy games go, as there is no way to beat the mouse and keyboard setup when it comes to controls. As such, there have been few successful real time strategy titles on consoles, one of the more prominent examples being the Xbox 360 title Halo Wars, by Ensemble Studios, as Eurogamer points out.
But it seems that this is about to change, as Relic Entertainment's Game Director Quinn Duffy has recently revealed that the studio has come up with what they call a "plausible solution" for the control-related problem that real time strategy titles encounter on consoles.
However, he refrained from revealing any details about what that solution might entail, being content to state that it's something that the company had been considering for a long time, waiting to see how several factors weigh in their equation.
His reticence in revealing more information is understandable, considering Relic's solid position in the strategy genre. Even though the solution is currently only in the research and development department, Duffy wouldn't want anyone else capitalizing on the studio's idea.
"There was always a talk of strategy games on console. We think we came up with a plausible solution, which I'm not going to talk about. There's some stuff that's been back burnered for years because we wanted to see how technology, the market, control and touch emerged. Hopefully we will be positioned to adapt to some of that," Duffy explained.
He still admitted that the mouse and keyboard would remain the ideal method of control as far as real time strategy games go, and that even if RTS titles managed to emerge on consoles, PC and console players would most likely never meet in multiplayer matches due to imbalance issues.
Although controls on the console would be much more limited, some elements of strategy games such as squad control and the god overview are still perfectly workable on consoles, but they only need a slight re-interpretation in order to properly function.
"There would need to be some changes. But I think it's possible. You need to stretch the boundaries a little bit," Duffy pointed out.
Although the most recent generation of consoles is able to provide the great graphical and aural experience available on PCs, the tactical squad control interface would be harder to translate to a control pad.
"There's still lots of room to innovate. You just have to ease your community into it. And ease your developers," Duffy ended his reveal, noting that RTS enthusiasts are usually a more conservative audience.