undefined | Better HN

0 pointsmirker3y ago0 comments

Hardcore “competitive” RTS (StarCraft/Age of Empires) can’t since it’s not competitive enough if you can’t hit a meaningful 300+ actions per minute, which is impossible without hotkeys. Even IF they could, I am skeptical you’d get converts. Even IF all of them converted, hardcore RTS is not thriving right now. You’d have to create the perfect game and you’d be rewarded with less players than a Minecraft clone.

Some numbers: AoE players 16k https://steamcharts.com/app/813780 SC2 players ~100k https://www.rankedftw.com/stats/population/1v1/#v=2&r=-2&sy=... Minecraft ~178M https://activeplayer.io/minecraft/

0 comments

3 comments · 2 top-level

pjmlp3y ago· 1 in thread

Naturally I wasn't talking about competitive esports on a phone or tablet.

There are plenty of people that are happy to play games without having the dream of becoming an esports player as career.

mirkerOP3y ago

DOTA, Rocket League, CSGO, etc. are e-sports friendly but don’t have this population problem. It’s not about being “hardcore”; it’s about having broad appeal to hit a wide market segment. RTS has struggled with that historically. Tower defense and MOBA are two examples where RTS was simplified to a broader appeal game.

Ygg23y ago

You're comparing apples to oranges.

StarCraft 2: Wings of Liberty sold 6 million, but only small fraction of the playerbase is interested in competitve aspect.

Minecraft is just an online sandbox. Most people will play it like that.

Plus a gamedev doesn't need to take into account what sells, but what kind of competition you have. How will your Minecraft clone exist in market with Minecraft vs how will your M RTS live in a market with StarCraft 2.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse