The Next Wave Of FPS

For years now the first person shooter scene hasturnover of the products that the development
been dominated solely by the titans of the genre.teams of all games have been restricted. Because
Counter strike source even today still holdsof course you can never blame the
significant standing, however with titles seeminglyprogrammers, the designers or any other part of
approaching what can only from a logicalthe team, they are just doing there job, to
standpoint be the end of their franchise potential Irefuse to meet a deadline or to refuse a idea
find myself considering the next wave of firstwould have them fired presumably.
person shooters which are surely about toWith that in mind it is easy to see how the
emerge.creativity of the development teams will now be
We have titles like team fortress 2 sending arestricted in order to meet deadlines and turnover
much needed breath of life into the otherwisequotas. This is not at all a concern to most
stagnant genre, but if you care to look at thegamers as they like their franchises they have,
other major active first person shooter titles it isand that of course is not the issue being
for me at least concerning that they seem to alladdressed, the point at the end of the day is that
be either sequels or mimicry.yes, we have more gamers coming online every
Call of Duty 4 has recently been released andday, we have gamers developing their skills every
boasts a incredible amount of potential, howeverday, so why are their not more quality major
it is that , call of duty 4, and yes although it isfirst person shooters becoming available?
based around modern combat, one could argue itI suppose that would be a question that only the
is more of the same with a skin change, just thedevelopment teams could answer, but if you take
same as the claim that Battlefield 2142 wasinto account basic business sense then it is easy
exactly that compared to Battlefield 2. And theto see the answer. The development teams are
claim could not be more true, however that is notfunded by their revenue gained from previous
to say that the quality of these continuations inreleases, sponsors, and at times publishing
the franchise are not entertaining and unique, butcompanies themselves, those companies want to
it brings you to the question.make back there money that they have put into
Are they interested in developing new anddeveloping the game, and to do so they are
exciting games? or are they interested in theadhered to follow trends that they created in
yearly turnover of the games franchise?order to be able to obtain the funding to develop
When you start to notice that the publishinga game in the first place.
corporations over the years have beenThis in the big picture will lead to lack of creativity
increasingly slanted towards sales rather thanin the genre, as developers will be forced via the
quality it is a concerning prospect to the future ofbusiness aspect of the industry to continue to
the first person shooter genre and gaming abroad.pump out sequels or clones of previous first
Thats not to say that interesting titles are notperson shooters. Sure we are bound to see a
about to emerge, we have a crisis about to landfew new revolutionary titles thrown into the mix
on the Internet any day now, however i look atbut given the amount of gamers there are these
the effort that they have put in to the game, thedays, and given the expanding growth of the
exceptional graphics and the hype for the gameinternet daily, when you sit back and look at the
itself and I think by noticing this trend it is highlytitles we have, compared to the amount of
possible we will see a crysis 2 within 24 monthsgamers or in the developers eyes "customers"
of release.the equation does not add up correctly. Is
I often wonder, if because of the publishingsomething rotten in the state of Denmark?
corporations now expressing major interest in