PCGAMER spoke to Chris Taylor recently, and asked him how he feels about the state of PC gaming. ‘Good’ would be an understatement. Chris designed two of the world’s cleverest strategy games: Total Annihilation and Supreme Commander.
More recently, he and his company Gas Powered Games took over development of Age of Empires Online, a free-to-play version of the old classic. Here are his thoughts on why the platform has never been stronger
Chris Taylor was once the founder and CEO of Gas Powered Games, responsible for the the Supreme Commander series and the first 2 Dungeon Siege games. Bought over by Wargaming back in early 2013 to prevent a closure due to financial difficulties, Chris Taylor recently announced he has left the company after more than 3 years, with no games shipped or officially announced.
Chris Taylor Xbox could use a creative mind or new blood for anyone one of their studios , maybe look into it .
I thought wargaming had bought the rights to Total Anniilation and Chris was working on a much needed reboot or sequel. Chris, please do that, even if it doesnt have the name. Surpreme Commander was good, but TA was better, bring back downloadable units and that same gameplay.
"A little over a year ago, the Kickstarter craze began. You can trace the roots of the phenomenon to a joint project between 2-Player Productions and video game developer, Double Fine. The project went on to garner $3.3 million and prove to the world that Kickstarter was a legitimate home for crowd-funding Since then, the Kickstarter projects have come pouring in. " | Explosion.com
Everywhere you look you see titles in this genre dying... Could 2013 being the year they’re slated to disappear?
It'd be nice if someone came along and breathed some life into MMORTS's, and did something like the Buy to play model instead of free to play. Or, even subscription based. Funny to think, but I still would pay monthly for a game that I thoroughly enjoyed. I've consistently played WoW for almost 10 years now, and pay for that.
The RTS Genre hasn't been the same since Ensemble Studios ceased to be.
Age of empires 4 on consoles would be epic.
Or remake the first one with good graphics obviously and add all the good features that worked over the years.
Literally my most wanted game that will probably never see the light of day.
So sad.
I was really sad to see Age of Empires Online go the way it did. Not becuase I thought it was a good game, but because I have such fond memories of the genre.
What I'd love to see is some sort of MMORTS/Civ crossover...THAT would be something...
RTS isn't mainstream last time i checked but there's always gonna be some good games around i believe.
I'd say Starcraft and games like Dota/LoL are pretty mainstream.
Thing with MMO games is that a single popular game just cannibalizes the others, and it is difficult to break into the market and stay relevant while fighting off an older more established franchise.
Hopefully Company of Heroes 2 survives the post-THQ experience.
Name one persistent "RTS" online that doesn't have a major cash shop problems? Tiberian Alliances, Stronghold Kingdoms, Lords of Ultima, etc. All of them are so drenched in Pay to Win it's not even enjoyable, and the graphics are sub-par too. WTB Persistant Warzone 2100
In my entire life, I never really thought MMORTS were anything big. I follow variety of games pretty close, and MMORTS never really come up on any major radars. Its just not a very attractive idea.
I love PC gaming
Rumors of PC gaming's death have been greatly exaggerated. :)
I love PC gaming and the truth is that PC gaming has been growing in recent years.
Just played The Witcher 2 and I am satisified regardless if every other game I pre-ordered sucks this year.
PC gaming is the shiiiiiiiiiit.
It must have not been that big before for it to be bigger now.
Hi chris.
So why did you make SC2 the way it is?
Bye.
PC gamer in heart too. It's so much better than consoles apart from the couch (and yet i've got a good chair :p)