Why the First-Person Shooter Is Doomed

Clearly, First-Person Shooters offer something primal and unique: the illusion of carrying weaponry and blasting foes before your very eyes. But why must people exclusively tote guns? How else might the innate strengths of first-person immersion be harnessed? In writing, a first-person narrator can tell any kind of story: family drama, crime thriller, quirky romance, children's fable. But today you largely don't see other genres use this point-of-view. Such wasn't always the case.

[hallen12]

They are way over doing themselves and by the time the call of duty and Halo franchises come to an end I don't think they will be very popular anymore.

[Ocelot525]

i doubt that, look at fifa, nba and other sports games? every year a new game with almost nothing new and they still sell very well. casual gamers are now also playing shooters thanks to cod4, moder warfare 2 and halo, before cod4 shooters were more for hardcore gamers

[Cevapi88]

i wonder when this doomsday will come....it seems like it should have come years ago

[bviperz]

Ocelot525, what changes in sports is one of the games main appeals: the players. Who didn't want to run over everybody with Bo Jackson in Super Tecmo Bowl on the NES? Or play as Ronaldo in the latest FIFA game. Or try and win the championship one last time in Cleveland using LeBron James? So trying to compare the lasting appeal of sports with shooters just doesn't work.

[evrfighter]

when trying to debate this topic. All one needs to do is point to madden.

@bviperz
that's a pretty weak argument. simple maps or mods is all one needs to change a fps COMPETELY. moreso than playing as someone in a different jersey.

[xAlmostPro]

beause its resulted in thousands of campers lol

[bviperz]

@evrfighter

It's more to it than that for shooters because if that was the case then we should be on CoD 2011. Shooters need a little more than just simple map changes and mods to be able to sell every year. Sports games don't require as much.

[ExplosionSauce]

They just have to learn to do something different!
First-person games like Bioshock, Metroid Prime, Mirrors Edge, Portal and also other non-shooting and non-war type games can be really great because they have more unique gameplay or stories.

[dizzleK]

they're doomed because they refuse to do anything different. eventually even the slack jaws are gonna tire of modern warfare. psssst devs, let me let you in on a secret: oblivion, bioshock and mirrors edge were successful too, it's not just cod and halo that sell.

[Ocelot525]

I say again:

fifa, nba and american football games also don't do anything new and they sell well

[Seijoru]

fifa changes quite a bit each year ya know and if you are expecting something radical then your out of luck because the game is restricted by the laws of the sport.

[bviperz]

See my comment above. Not trying to argue, just saying. Sports games ALWAYS bring something new.

[gcolley]

mirrors edge was not a success, that's the problem. bioshock 2 was not a success but according to your logic it would have to have been if the first was that good, but it wasn't. oblivion is an RPG.

this brings me to my next point, genres will start to merge, that will be the change. FPS and RPG, FPS and RTS. this is really the only direction they can go. bring on RTS/RPG/FPS, i wanna play that game.

[Cajun Chicken]

Singularity was a breath of fresh air based upon a better and earlier age. That's all I'm saying on this...oh, and I'm sick of modern day war scenarios and propaganda being shoved in my games presented as if fact.

[labaronx]

and it was better than I thought it was going to be, while it could have done somethings better, it was good effort by Raven, to put it's own spin on the fps genre, i tend to gravitate more to the halo, quake resistance franchises

[gcolley]

thanks guys, all i needed to sway me to purchase this game. not all FPS are COD type. i enjoyed mirrors edge and riddick (loved riddick). no game genre changes that much, the problem is the amount of FPS coming out.

[Fishy Fingers]

FPS is clearly the most popular genre today, thats why so many developers take the "easy route" and continue to make them, although of course not all make the grade.

Still, I'm more than happy, FPS is my favourite genre. I usually struggle to feel a connection to a character so FPS helps get me immersed. Then again it's "first person" I like, not just the shooting, from Half-life to Unreal, there's plenty of scope there.

FPS aint going anywhere.

[ChronoJoe]

I don't think it's first person shooters themselves, just the first person perspective that is so popular. It increases immersion, and that's all important.

I'd love to see some more first person RPGs.

[jerethdagryphon]

mirrors edge is my fav fp game this gen its also my nemasis ....i will get that platinium

[Buller_Proofish]

There will always be FPS, even if its just a two or three a year. I would like to see first person perspective used for more though.

Some people want to see the character with third person perspective, but I want to be the character.

[iamnsuperman]

FPS will forever be popular. Being able to shoot people virtually is always going to be poular because the gamer is immersed in the game. Also weird as it sounds being able to kill someone without consequences makes these franchises popular because it interacts with our animalistic instinct. Everyone gets satisfaction from killing people virtually that is why FPS will never die

[Xfanboy]

I just need something new!! 2nd person shooters ftw!!!

[Cajun Chicken]

http://n4g.com/user/blogpos...

I still want this to be made.

[SuperbVillain]

I always wondered about this,how would it work....

[Trroy]

2nd person?

So... you're the guy getting shot by the main protagonist, over and over again?

That's pretty... interesting. =) I have a feeling it wouldn't sell either... maybe to a select crowd.

[ExplosionSauce]

Poseidon death sequence.

[gtsentry]

cod=top of pre order charts,best selling shooter franchise
halo=best 360 shooter
gears=arguably best 360 shooter out now
killzone 3,socom4,gears3,haloreach,blak ops=currently on 3/4 of fanboys to get list...BUT YET FPS IS DOOMED

[tommyth3cat]

Gears is a THIRD person shooter my friend.

[nagato4life]

lol

[Yardie]

What about Socom 4?

[SSKILLZ]

Because they keep making Halo games.

[gcolley]

that is just one developer and that's all they know how to do. that is not the whole industry making halo. your fanboy logic doesn't make sense.

[SuperbVillain]

First person shooter is doomed,unless somebody innovates and brings something new to the genre.But a lot of people are quick to criticize anything new,just because they are unfamiliar with it.But this doesn't just happen with FPS,it's in all genres.So my point is,it starts with the gamers,gamers need to be more open to new ideas.This will be the only way any genre will survive.

[lh_swe]

There only a finite number of genre's and sure every now and then a new idea or concept is put into motion but they are few and far between, think Portal, Mirrors edge (like the article mentioned) but I feel like the first person view is one of the simplest ways for a person to feel immersed in the action.

However immersion in FPS becomes a problem as the protagonist become empty as to allow the player to fill the shoes which I think creates a hurdle for developers when they want to create an engaging story, Half Life truly succeded in this respect but I don't think any other game has managed to replicate what Half Life did with their protagonist, Portal came close in my opinion.

So in the end my sole critique on the FPS is the lack of a compelling story, be it about the world or the characters, it doesn't matter to me, all I want is to step into a new and exciting world with an interesting goal and fight to reach it. For the mot part FPS's like Killzone 2 did that (mostly because I had read the online stories about the Killzone universe), Bioshock & Portal also succeded. MW2 & BF BC2 etc don't do more than satisfy my gameplay needs and gameplay only goes so far in my opinion.

But I think thats where I differ from most gamers, who almost solely play for gameplay and so in the end I think these games will thrive more than their story driven counterparts.

[bbretterson]

I hope to see more types of first-person games, but I don't think the shooter genre is going to die out. There's plenty of innovation there, and really, they're still too damn fun.

[djfullshred]

FPS is totally played out, with the occassional rare exception...for me anyhow. Been there, done that.

[gcolley]

so has sporting games, fighting games, racing games, platformers... the list goes on

[A LIVING LEGEND]

Fps games such as FC2,Borderlands,while not perfect by any means,show that the fps can venture in other directions and remain enjoyable and fresh.The tired tried and true sales formula is becoming very stale yet sells well,so no real incentive exists to change the formula......for now.

[palaeomerus]

People are stupid and myopic. They assume that because THEY are bored with something that EVERYONE ELSE must be bored with it too. Then they post a lame unsupported useless essay about their extreme misunderstanding of the reality of the video game business on Bitmob and from there it gets put on N4G and meanwhile FPS games continue to sell as much or more than they always have. Then somebody else writes the same ignorant twaddle again and the cycle continues.

[RyuCloudStrife]

fps is the best genre after rpg

[Shmotz]

I keep saying, remember how in the PS1/N64 era we had 3 new RPGs a week? Same rule applies here. People will get sick and not buy them and instead move on when the markets sick of them.

Then again they may continue being popular due to Multiplayer being so popular and Compettive gaming and such. Either way as long we still get some variety I'm okay. Not like we're being forced to play all the FPS's anyways.

[NarooN]

FPS isn't going anywhere. People will continue to buy them just like any other genre. Even though it's my favorite genre, I only buy ones that are unique enough and fun enough to me. I guess people forgot when there were 50 new RPGs a week. It's a cycle, it'll never end.

[Sprud]

I got tired of FPSes years ago. Half-Life 2 was my last.

[jazzking2001]

modern warfare 1 was my last
i am playin MOH beta a bit thou

[Catdeerduck]

so u can see mah avatar

[godoftime]

this is a bullshit story.

[ezcex]

i want the geebees

[N4PS3G]

bah

[A LIVING LEGEND]

I want the the woodwork closed.
So u can see mah no more.

[Letros]

Still waiting for a good FPS/RTS game, but it's coming very soon with Natural Selection 2!

[xAlmostPro]

i'd say its suffering from lack of innovation though, theres plenty of original ways it could go.. but instead they seem to follow each other..

modern warfare has been done, future style ones have been done, obviously ww2 has been done.. why not just make up your own world/cities/game from scratch?..

although bullet storm is seeming pretty unique? :)

[Spenok]

Its not doomed. Fps games will continue to sell VERY well for a long time to come.