I like consoles. I like strategy games. I like strategy games on consoles. But is there any method to my madness?
24 Feb 05

I recently mentioned Phantom Dust and Dai Senryaku VII: Modern Military Tactics for the Xbox recently. I've been asked why I'm so keen on console strategy games. It's a reasonable question. After all most strategy games come out on the PC. Console controllers aren't the best for traditional RTS games (and some would say for most strategy games). Console games are perceived as "dumbed down" for the mass market. So why?

I think there are some good reasons. I don't believe PC gaming is dying, but PC gaming is shrinking as a percentage of the total gaming market. That means there's more and more money out there for developers if they go after the console market. So am I just trying to keep ahead of the curve? No. The problem with following the money is you have to look where the money is going.

Strategy gaming is firmly a niche on the consoles. If you take out strategy RPG's, there's barely a handful each year. Even with the SRPG's, it's still a small fraction of console games each year. That fraction can still generate huge sales compared to the PC side. However, it doesn't approach the top selling categories. If the best teams do follow the money, they might just follow it completely away from the strategy genre. That's the first reason. Strategy gamers much show publishers that there is support for strategy games on consoles.

Next, well you know how I keep preaching on the importance of community around here. Well, we can't all be crusty old grognards. There are tons of gamers who only game on consoles. I also know a lot of people who work on PC's all day and want to get away from the for their gaming time. In short, to grow the genre we have to go where the people are. Did I mention that a broader market encourages developers to take chances with themes, gameplay, plots and settings. I've mentioned the innovation coming out of Russia before. Can you imagine if that creative fire caught around the world?

Then there's my love of strategy RPG's. I think a good SRPG is as fun as a good RTS game. Story is often a weak point for strategy games, but SRPG's fill that gap nicely.

Let's not forget Asia. Asia has a large strategy market that already has made the move to consoles. There are a lot of cool games created over there that we'll never see. It's simply because publishers don't perceive it as profitable to bring them to the American market.

Finally, I think good design trumps the remaining problems. I've had bad control on the PC and excellent control on a console. A well designed game makes the highest priority tasks the easiest to select and perform. The solution's the same to the dumbing down problem. Combining multiple difficulty levels with well designed layered gameplay can make games accessible to casual players but offer challenges for the hardcore.

So how to sum up? I think we save ourselves from a troubled future by embracing the console market. We also can make our future gameplay experiences better. To me that's a win/win.

Jason