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They just abandon the entire RTS fan base. This feels just like the diablo immortal announcement disaster where they announce a product that is completely outsi

by Setheck 21d ago

They just abandon the entire RTS fan base. This feels just like the diablo immortal announcement disaster where they announce a product that is completely outside the target audience. I hope it's good, but it's really disappointing to not just have starcraft 3. Instead we get diablo 5? I wish I could feel positive about any of the blizzcon announcements, but it all feels like an out of touch joke.

jm4 20d ago
RTS is pretty much a dead genre these days. There have been indie releases but nothing did well enough for a big studio to take notice. They tested the water with a Command and Conquer remaster a few years ago too.
- oefrha 20d ago
  That’s fine, just let it die. But they gotta milk the goddamn IP dry.
  - nozzlegear 20d ago
    It's been like 11 years since the last game, it seems a bit reactionary to call that "milking the goddamn IP dry."
- AngryData 20d ago
  The most ive done with RTS the last decade is watch some mass Beyond All Reason videos (I dont have the hardware for mass battles myself.) LoL and other moba dota-likes I think took the a bulk of the rts competative crowd. Now I feel like the traditional rts community has to butt heads with other strategy genres to take players if they want to approach old school rts levels of success. Trying to pull moba players back seems like it would have massive diminishing returns.
- bob1029 20d ago
  I think RTS could continue to work if someone made a massive leap of faith and put all the modern infra around it that a AAA extraction shooter would receive in 2026. The biggest problem with RTS is the matchmaking and onboarding experience. The game itself doesn't have to be dumbed down (i.e., removing base building, etc.). Making the RTS simpler is NOT the solution to player adoption. Starcraft II has some extremely complex mechanics (Zerg production) which have survived for 16 years without significant changes. The reality is that RTS is very much alive if you are willing to get your ass beat constantly. What I think many people are actually asking for is that nostalgic experience where everyone kind of sucked at these games and they could cheese their way to easy wins. RTS felt better when everyone was kind of bad. In a shooter you can still get lucky shots and catch people off guard. In an RTS, if someone is 1000 ELO better than you, the chances you defeat them are essentially zero.
- Gud 20d ago
  According to? I play AoE2 and it’s still growing.
- spwa4 20d ago
  Have you tried playing the Command and Conquer remaster? They barely upgraded the UI and it just doesn't feel like you're in command. Games move like your wading through molasses and you just win basically everything (except the online mode, where you have no chance whatsoever) And there isn't much variation. The cutscenes were almost the best part of the original game. Now they're really the only reason to even look.
- swish-mish 19d ago
  I knew RTS was dead when they started porting AoE games to console.
- Fnoord 19d ago
  Yup, it is. MOBA replaced most of it (which DOTA innovated). I don't like MOBA at all, but neither do I like PvP RTS. I believe Destiny proved an open world shooter in this genre can work. Also, didnt they announce a Warcraft HOTS?
FanaHOVA 20d ago
What would be the point in making SC3? SC2 is free to play, great game, and still barely gets any players. I play against the same 30-40 people every time in ranked.
nozzlegear 20d ago
> They just abandon the entire RTS fan base They did announce a new Warcraft 3 expansion at Blizzcon too.
TiredOfLife 20d ago
They literally released a 30 hour Warcraft campaign yesterday.
m4xp 19d ago
Making an rts in 2026. They are not a charity my guy. If you must capitalize on nostalgia you are better off making an mmo. That said i do not trust blizzard to make anything that isnt lame and slop.
- kllrnohj 19d ago
  I don't really get why people just assume RTS means it's going to fail? Like what major RTS games have come out since Starcraft 2 (which was not a critical or commercial flop) that resulted in cementing the genre as being dead & guaranteed to be a commercial failure? Starcraft 2 and it's 2 expansions all broke 1 million sales in less than 24 hours. SC2 was at 6 million sales after 2 years. Yet we're all supposed to just take it as obvious that a SC3 would be a commercial flop? Why the fuck should we assume that? Meanwhile how many AAA hero shooters and extraction shooters have we watched get released and been massive commercial flops? Yet we don't consider those to be dead genres?
swiftcoder 19d ago
> They just abandon the entire RTS fan base A full warcraft III expansion is not nothing
- kittoes 19d ago
  Did you catch that we can't LAN with it? Might seem small, but that's how some of us still choose to play. Being able to host on our own terms is kind of the main reason we still play the ancient versions...

by Setheck 21d ago

jm4 20d ago

RTS is pretty much a dead genre these days. There have been indie releases but nothing did well enough for a big studio to take notice. They tested the water with a Command and Conquer remaster a few years ago too.

oefrha 20d ago
That’s fine, just let it die. But they gotta milk the goddamn IP dry.
- nozzlegear 20d ago
  It's been like 11 years since the last game, it seems a bit reactionary to call that "milking the goddamn IP dry."
AngryData 20d ago
The most ive done with RTS the last decade is watch some mass Beyond All Reason videos (I dont have the hardware for mass battles myself.) LoL and other moba dota-likes I think took the a bulk of the rts competative crowd. Now I feel like the traditional rts community has to butt heads with other strategy genres to take players if they want to approach old school rts levels of success. Trying to pull moba players back seems like it would have massive diminishing returns.
bob1029 20d ago
I think RTS could continue to work if someone made a massive leap of faith and put all the modern infra around it that a AAA extraction shooter would receive in 2026. The biggest problem with RTS is the matchmaking and onboarding experience. The game itself doesn't have to be dumbed down (i.e., removing base building, etc.). Making the RTS simpler is NOT the solution to player adoption. Starcraft II has some extremely complex mechanics (Zerg production) which have survived for 16 years without significant changes. The reality is that RTS is very much alive if you are willing to get your ass beat constantly. What I think many people are actually asking for is that nostalgic experience where everyone kind of sucked at these games and they could cheese their way to easy wins. RTS felt better when everyone was kind of bad. In a shooter you can still get lucky shots and catch people off guard. In an RTS, if someone is 1000 ELO better than you, the chances you defeat them are essentially zero.
Gud 20d ago
According to? I play AoE2 and it’s still growing.
spwa4 20d ago
Have you tried playing the Command and Conquer remaster? They barely upgraded the UI and it just doesn't feel like you're in command. Games move like your wading through molasses and you just win basically everything (except the online mode, where you have no chance whatsoever) And there isn't much variation. The cutscenes were almost the best part of the original game. Now they're really the only reason to even look.
swish-mish 19d ago
I knew RTS was dead when they started porting AoE games to console.
Fnoord 19d ago
Yup, it is. MOBA replaced most of it (which DOTA innovated). I don't like MOBA at all, but neither do I like PvP RTS. I believe Destiny proved an open world shooter in this genre can work. Also, didnt they announce a Warcraft HOTS?

FanaHOVA 20d ago

What would be the point in making SC3? SC2 is free to play, great game, and still barely gets any players. I play against the same 30-40 people every time in ranked.

nozzlegear 20d ago

> They just abandon the entire RTS fan base They did announce a new Warcraft 3 expansion at Blizzcon too.

TiredOfLife 20d ago

They literally released a 30 hour Warcraft campaign yesterday.

m4xp 19d ago

Making an rts in 2026. They are not a charity my guy. If you must capitalize on nostalgia you are better off making an mmo. That said i do not trust blizzard to make anything that isnt lame and slop.

kllrnohj 19d ago
I don't really get why people just assume RTS means it's going to fail? Like what major RTS games have come out since Starcraft 2 (which was not a critical or commercial flop) that resulted in cementing the genre as being dead & guaranteed to be a commercial failure? Starcraft 2 and it's 2 expansions all broke 1 million sales in less than 24 hours. SC2 was at 6 million sales after 2 years. Yet we're all supposed to just take it as obvious that a SC3 would be a commercial flop? Why the fuck should we assume that? Meanwhile how many AAA hero shooters and extraction shooters have we watched get released and been massive commercial flops? Yet we don't consider those to be dead genres?

swiftcoder 19d ago

> They just abandon the entire RTS fan base A full warcraft III expansion is not nothing

kittoes 19d ago
Did you catch that we can't LAN with it? Might seem small, but that's how some of us still choose to play. Being able to host on our own terms is kind of the main reason we still play the ancient versions...