> Starcraft 2 is basically dead. WC3 remastered flopped. The RTS genre writ large is definitely in a waning phase. I wouldn’t call SC2 “dead.” You can still qu

> Starcraft 2 is basically dead. WC3 remastered flopped. The RTS genre writ large is definitely in a waning phase. I wouldn’t call SC2 “dead.” You can still queue up for a game within a couple of minutes if you want to play, which is all that matters. This is even true of Brood War. I think the dominance of Starcraft 2 on the RTS esports scene basically smothered any contenders in the crib. The oldheads who still like it seem to prefer playing Brood War with all its incomprehensible esoterica (to uninitiated audiences) to anything new. Now that Blizzard has put the game in maintenance mode I expect there will be more sunlight to nourish new seedlings as its canopy withers. All the influential Blizzard RTS developers seem to have decamped for Frost Giant games to create a new RTS, and it looks like they have the industry clout to make a splash when their title finally lands (maybe in 3-5 years ha). Meanwhile Sunspear Games, which made the innovative “Vanguard” mod tor SC2, just got done with a (purely hype-focused) kickstarted launch for Immortal: Gates of Pyre (slated for late 2022). And then Relic is putting out a new Age of Empires as well. I am WAY more optimistic about the future of the RTS genre now than I’ve been at any point since Heart of the Swarm came out and half of SC2’s active player base decided it wasn’t worth it to continue playing.