What is the next big gaming genre?
There are gaming genres that are as old as time itself, such as adventure games like The Legend of Zelda or Platformers like Mario or RPG’s such as Final Fantasy but every now and then a new game comes around that creates a new genre that takes the world by storm. In the early 90’s you had the first person shooter craze, which still is dominant today. In the Mid 90’s, real time strategy games or RTS took over with games like Command and Conquer, Warcraft, and StarCraft. We have continued to see it happen many times since then.
There are new games and experiences being released constantly, so why did these games rise above the rest and become mainstream while others didn't. Is it an evolutionary or a revolutionary change that causes a spark?
Let’s take a look at some of the more recent genres that seemingly came out of nowhere, try to find patterns and see if we can deduce what might be the next big genre to take over the gaming world.
Battle Royale
First person shooters weren’t anything new in 2017, neither was mil-sims as both of these genres had existed for decades. However, in 2017, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds took the world by storm. In just the first six hours of release the game had netted more than a million dollars in revenue and in just 16 days had sold one million copies. Very impressive for a game that started as a mod that was still in early access. By the end of 2017 PUBG was a phenomenon. A game that was trending everywhere from game of the year lists to leading the views on popular streaming sites.
PUBG wasn’t even the first major Battle Royale to market, as Player Unknown himself helped consult with Sony for H1Z1’s King of the Hill mode that incorporated a similar mechanic. There were plenty of games that had some semblance of a Battle Royale from ARMA mods to DayZ mods and others. PUBG wasn’t an overnight success.
Battle Royale also became more than just a flash in the pan as many big publishers rushed to create Battle Royale’s and get in on the craze. Shortly after the success of PUBG, many competitors came to market including Fortnite, which pivoted from its save the world mechanic, Call of Duty with Blackout, a pillar of their annual release and then Apex Legends from Respawn that combined aspects of Battle Royale and popular hero shooters.
Today, of the most popular games around are ether Battle Royale or have aspects of it. Warzone, Call of Duty’s free to play Battle Royale mode is constantly near the top of the streaming charts has hundreds of millions of downloads. We even still see future announcements for upcoming Battle Royale’s that prove that this genre is here to stay.
ROGUE-LIKES
Roguelikes have exploded into their own genre over the past decade and even more so that last couple of years. Similar to Battle Royale’s, the foundation for this genre dates back to the early eighties when a game called Rogue was released for systems like the Commodore and the Atari.
This is where the term rogue lites or rogue likes have originated from as the original rogue featured permanently dying which results in losing all items, health and progress. Games that a very similar to this formula would be classified as Rogue Like because they are like rogues.
Games that feature some of the elements of Rogue would be classified as Rogue-Lite because they are a lite or diet based version of Rogue. Typically in rogue-lites dying restarts all progress however in most cases items or upgrades carry over, like Hades or Dead Cells. Even though death and the progress restarting happens you still feel as though you are able to level up your character and make a better run.
Rogues, Rogue-Lites, and Rogue-Likes have fully expanded to the mainstream from games that include high profile, big budget exclusive games from Sony including Returnal and DeathLoop to independent deck builders Slay The Spire or Monster Train.
MOBA
If there is an easy trend to see with all news gaming genres that explode, it’s that mods typically lead to something very interesting. Multiplayer Online Battle Arenas or MOBA spawned as a mod from Real Time Strategy Games and even though I have never played a true MOBA, I can very much appreciate their popularity.
Since their first major mod from StarCraft, and about ten years of tinkering with the original mod’s formula, MOBA’s gained traction with games following quickly including major titles including DOTA 2 from Valve, League of Legends from RIOT and Heroes of the Storm from Blizzard. All of these titles were released in the short span of a few years between 2009 for League, 2013 for DOTA 2 and 2015 for Heroes of the Storm.
MOBA’s still feel in their infancy but seem to have solidified their place as a major genre. One of the latest MOBA’s might have one of the greatest chances of any release since 2015 with Pokemon Unite. Combining the mass appeal of MOBA’s with the worldwide craze of Pokemon. After being released for the Nintendo Switch in July 2021 and then on mobile in September, Pokemon Unite already has over 25 million downloads according to The Pokemon Company.
Similar to DOTA 2 and League of Legends, Pokemon Unite is also free to play, which makes trying the game much easier.
Precedent, Patterns and Predictions
As we have learned from these most recent examples, the next big thing likely already exists in its infancy. New gaming genres are almost always an evolutionary change that sees genres get tweaked and refined until suddenly all the elements align properly and create what seems to be lightning in a bottle.
Popular mod’s of existing games don’t always mean that a genre will cross into the mainstream. There have been popular mods that became too niche that enough people can’t get into such as the auto chess mod that came from MOBA’s. A couple of years ago, the popular mod garnered enough attention that multiple clones from multiple studios were developed but popularity fizzled out and didn’t show the lasting success of these other genres.
The common denominator for most of these games that became massive is that they are all based off an existing formula and free to play is quite the recurring pattern. For Battle Royale, you have games like Warzone and Apex that are both free to play, and then with MOBA’s you have DOTA, League and Pokemon Unite all being free. I can’t think of any rogue type that has been free to play, which means that free to play isn’t a necessity for the next big mainstream genre but a very common occurrence.
Trying to predict the next big genre is not an easy thing to do, if it was EA and Activision would be all over the next big thing. One of the big patterns that gets noticed is that it usually isn’t the first mod that breaks through or the first attempt but instead it takes iterations and refinement before it becomes suitable for the mainstream. You also need a level of uncertainty to the games that will make people return time and again.
One genre that currently exists that I think has yet to reach its full potential is asymmetrical multiplayer games. There have been attempts like Evolve that floundered and games like Dead by Daylight that have found some cult success but I still think there is something that has yet to be discovered in that genre. This genre has inclusion for all players where that be squads or solos and I think the bigger the potential player base, the greater the potential success.
The other area I can see a game breaking through and staying popular is something designed around streaming. When you look at a game like Among Us which is based around social deduction skills and streaming for an audience you see how it was able to become a massive success that was all you could hear about for a few months. Among Us likely was boosted in popularity due to the pandemic. You also see interactive survival horror games like entries from The Dark Pictures Anthology that skyrocket to the top of the streaming charts when they first release.
It’s not a huge leap to see the world is only getting more connected and interactive. Finding a way to incorporate that into a more mainstream genre leads to a greater potential audience. Sony and Supermassive tried something that incorporated a close group of friends with Hidden Agenda that used the PlayLink, but that was limited to being social with people on the same couch as you but I still think something in that realm of interactive, social gaming has yet to find its way, especially since we have seen the way the world has chanced since 2020.