14 DAY TRIAL // DICE, the studio behind the hugely successful Battlefield franchise, has shared its thoughts on the current state of the first-person shooter genre, revealing that the modern setting for such games is beginning to get stale and, as a result, is now driving people away.
Shooter titles are among the most popular and most profitable types of games nowadays, with many studios working on either first or third-person experiences, mostly set in current-day scenarios.
According to DICE General Manager Karl Magnus Troedsson, this will soon change, as quite a lot of gamers have gotten sick of modern shooters and will prompt studios to change their strategies.
"I think we're going to start seeing people moving away from the modern setting, because every now and again settings or themes start to get stale and then everyone jumps over," he told Edge.
“At some point dinosaurs are the hottest thing and everyone is making games with dinosaurs, but there are trends. It used to be WWII, and recently it's been the modern era and people are now moving towards near future."
This problem can’t be solved by simply taking games to the near future, like how the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops II is doing.
"But it's a bit cheap to just say, 'Okay, we're going to switch and go back in time or into the future and that will be innovation'. It will definitely drive the franchise forward for whatever game, but it's not true innovation, it's more a thematic change that has a perceived value to the gamers out there,” he added.
In order to truly get people back to first-person shooters, studios need to push themselves and create all new experiences, according to the DICE boss.
“But as a developer you can only make so many games in one particular era, and then you personally start to get a bit bored with it. I think it's our responsibility as game developers to always push ourselves when it comes to the experience of games," he concluded.
DICE is currently working hard on new expansions for Battlefield 3 and its upcoming projects yet to be revealed.