Reasons why there hasn't been a major FPS WW1 era shooter:
1)Geographical Issues: WW1 wasn't all about trench-warfare- there was the siege of Verdun, Gallipoli, mobile warfare on the Eastern Front and by the end of the war the Allies had broken the trench-warfare stalemate. The trouble is that to reflect this diversity you would have to play as soldiers from different nations. This isn't a problem if you want to make an FPS with multiple playable characters, but traditionally an FPS is made from the perspective of a single protagonist, and so the environmental constraints of WW1 present some story and narrative challenges if you want to make an interesting game.
2)Lack of weapon diversity- With the exception of fixed machine gun placements, all infantry primarily fought with a bolt action rifle, which restricts game play to the sort of gamers who like to snipe enemies from afar. Not much fun for the "spray-and-pray" types. You could introduce bayonet/hand to hand fighting as another major aspect of gameplay, but that in itself presents some big technical challenges.
3)Call me cynical, but I think the lack of American involvement in the war may put of dev's and publishers off the WW1 era. Most FPS's are made with an American audience in mind- with American protagonists fighting in wars relevant to America or set in environments that are likely to resonate with an American audience. Why hasn't there been any FPS's where you play as a French soldier in North Africa whilst there's been countless FPS's with American soldiers fighting wars in generic "middle eastern/post Soviet" countries? America's last minute role in WW1 I think also has something to do with why nobody has made a major WW1 shooter yet.
All three points however I think are not in insurmountable, and I think a talented enough development team can still make a great WW1 game.
1)Geographical Issues: WW1 wasn't all about trench-warfare- there was the siege of Verdun, Gallipoli, mobile warfare on the Eastern Front and by the end of the war the Allies had broken the trench-warfare stalemate. The trouble is that to reflect this diversity you would have to play as soldiers from different nations. This isn't a problem if you want to make an FPS with multiple playable characters, but traditionally an FPS is made from the perspective of a single protagonist, and so the environmental constraints of WW1 present some story and narrative challenges if you want to make an interesting game.
2)Lack of weapon diversity- With the exception of fixed machine gun placements, all infantry primarily fought with a bolt action rifle, which restricts game play to the sort of gamers who like to snipe enemies from afar. Not much fun for the "spray-and-pray" types. You could introduce bayonet/hand to hand fighting as another major aspect of gameplay, but that in itself presents some big technical challenges.
3)Call me cynical, but I think the lack of American involvement in the war may put of dev's and publishers off the WW1 era. Most FPS's are made with an American audience in mind- with American protagonists fighting in wars relevant to America or set in environments that are likely to resonate with an American audience. Why hasn't there been any FPS's where you play as a French soldier in North Africa whilst there's been countless FPS's with American soldiers fighting wars in generic "middle eastern/post Soviet" countries? America's last minute role in WW1 I think also has something to do with why nobody has made a major WW1 shooter yet.
All three points however I think are not in insurmountable, and I think a talented enough development team can still make a great WW1 game.
