How did FPS's become so popular?

[Blame it on Ben]

It is to my knowledge that in the UL and US, FPS's are the most popular type of game.

I believe it is because an FPS is the easiest game to make multilayer friendly but does anyone know, or at least have an idea, how the FPS genera became so popular?

 

[Irridium]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Spoiler: Ahem.

 

[Eumersian]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Spoiler: SNIP

SNIP

Spoiler

 

[Atticus89]

Because there is probably nothing more cathartic than shooting Nazis, zombies, Nazi zombies, aliens, and other various fleshy targets in a game.

 

[Ertol]

Because people buy them...

 

[oplinger]

Because you're playing in first person. You see the visuals up close, all the action unfolds like it's you there. And many of them you're have no personality. so you do it yourself. So people like it.

Also we like killing things. -we- as in. We like doing it. Not watching someone else do it, though that can be fun too.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Spoiler: SNIP

SNIP

Spoiler

...*checks*

Damn, you're right. Three years earlier.

 

[Kpt._Rob]

I guess I always thought the reasons were pretty self evident. It's got guns and a shit ton of action. It's pliable enough that it can be used to tell any sort of story from a demon/alien scenario to a realistic SWAT/military thing, and it can be used to tell very mature stories, very immature stories, and even stories that are at least somewhat more family friendly. The core mechanic (shoot people) isn't that hard to pick up on, but there's a lot of complexity that can be added on top of it if the dev decides not to shoot for the lowest common denominator. And of all the different genres it probably has what is, at this point in gaming history at least, the most accessible and still entertaining multiplayer modes.

 

[Netrigan]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Then Call Of Duty 4 doubled that.

Roots go back a lot further. The FPS has been one of the most popular genres in PC gaming since 1993's Doom. For console players, it was the most popular game genre they barely played, so when Halo successfully translated the modern FPS to the consoles (Goldeneye never got the whole aiming on the z-axis down), it wasn't the case of a new emerging genre filled with unexplored potential taking root; it was the invasion of a well-oiled war machine already mired in the cliches that PC gamers were all too willing to blame on Halo.

The space marine as the default protagonist: 1993's Doom.
The first AAA brown shooter: 1996's Quake.
Extremely linear game levels: 1998's Half-Life wasn't the first.
Basic weapon set of melee weapon, pistol, shotgun, assault rifle, rocket launcher, grenades, sniper rifle (or sci-fi equivalents)... default by 1999's Quake 3.

In any case, consoles witness something fairly unique in gaming. A completely developed game genre that they were largely ignorant of hit them with the double-barrels of novelty and finely honed & crafted game-play. These days the novelty value has long ago but there's not exactly a whole lot of newer genres to pick up the baton.

That and the Unreal Engine makes them really easy to develop. Again, thank PC gaming for that one, since engine licensing has been big business since the Quake days.

 

[dbmountain]

It's human nature to kill

 

[Netrigan]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Spoiler: SNIP

SNIP

Spoiler

...*checks*

Damn, you're right. Three years earlier.

More like 8 years earlier. Doom hit shortly after Mortal Kombat. Those were the two most objectionable games when the rating system was introduced.

 

[Monsterfurby]

It's the same reason why there are tons of mediocre action movies that still make a huge profit: simple, easily accessible, straightforward, cheap to produce (until the 1990s, that is).

 

[Phoenixmgs_v1legacy]

The core mechanic (shoot people) isn't that hard to pick up on, but there's a lot of complexity that can be added on top of it if the dev decides not to shoot for the lowest common denominator.

But that's what sells instead of, you know, the good stuff. I bet all the revenue that Black Ops makes that Black Ops will sell more than the new Deus Ex and Bioshock combined. And, if you say it's because those games don't have MP; MAG is a far superior game to CoD and it didn't sell great, I'm not even sure if it sold well.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

its the easiest way to keep short attention spanned people buying your games.

not saying everyone is, hell i play fps at least once a week usually, but just saying for the majority of the market, especially your average teen (alot of the main consumers) the best and easiest way to get them to buy your game is get a highly over actiony fps game.

granted i have torn my brothers away from those stereotypes finally but generally thats what the majority of youngins to young adults go for, plus anyone else of age so its the easiest market to really go for in terms of profit, in which thats what the gaming business is these days.

 

[NeutralDrow]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Spoiler: SNIP

SNIP

Spoiler

...*checks*

Damn, you're right. Three years earlier.

More like 8 years earlier. Doom hit shortly after Mortal Kombat. Those were the two most objectionable games when the rating system was introduced.

Er...no. Doom came out in 1993, Quake in 1996.

 

[Korten12]

The core mechanic (shoot people) isn't that hard to pick up on, but there's a lot of complexity that can be added on top of it if the dev decides not to shoot for the lowest common denominator.

But that's what sells instead of, you know, the good stuff. I bet all the revenue that Black Ops makes that Black Ops will sell more than the new Deus Ex and Bioshock combined. And, if you say it's because those games don't have MP; MAG is a far superior game to CoD and it didn't sell great, I'm not even sure if it sold well.

It has sold around 900k, almost 1 million.

 

[-Samurai-]

I'd have to say because it's one of the easiest formats to play. You point, and you hit a button(or click) and you use some buttons(or keys) to move.

The FPS model is self-explanatory. Move, shoot, kill, repeat. It's simple, and anyone can do it.

 

[Netrigan]

Being a fan of the FPS going back to the Doom days, I think it's pretty damn hard to make a really shitty one. Most are just dull and uninspired, but its a rare one that I can't play to the end and get a decent amount of enjoyment (and that's usually due to a poorly implemented new feature or game crippling bugs).

The problem is that far too many of them are dull and uninspired and I've distanced myself from them in recent years. If I had to point to a game that forever altered the landscape in a negative way, I'd point to Half-Life, which far too many half-decent games have copied in the dullest, most ham-fisted way. Impatiently waiting for the NPC to get out of your way so you can play the fucking game: Half-Life is the reason. Stuck in a bunch of uninteresting interactive (non)cut-scenes that you can't skip: Half-Life is the reason. Being forced down a corridor with tons of locked or blocked doors: mother-fucking Half-Life is the reason. Sad that when looking for a game to fuck shit up, FPS aren't my first choice any more, because so many of them are half-wits trying to replicate a gaming experience they don't fully understand.

 

[Netrigan]

Halo's mind-boggling success probably had something to do with it.

Spoiler: SNIP

SNIP

Spoiler

...*checks*

Damn, you're right. Three years earlier.

More like 8 years earlier. Doom hit shortly after Mortal Kombat. Those were the two most objectionable games when the rating system was introduced.

Er...no. Doom came out in 1993, Quake in 1996.

Sorry, never saw the Quake logo.

It's still the patron saint of brown shooters.