Strategy on the Decline

So claims Quantic Foundry (a 'market research company focused on gamer
motivation'), based on a recent survey. "Gamers Have Become Less
Interested in Strategic Thinking and Planning", the results indicate,
showing a marked decrease since 2015.*

I can't speak as to the validity of the claim. I've read a number of
articles suggesting the survey -by nature of how the questions (and
potential answers) were presented, and how it's results are based on a
self-selected group- call the results into question. Honestly, if I
were asked about my preference for 'strategic thinking', I'm not sure
I'd rank its importance as very high to me either... despite my
enjoyment of 4X strategy and tactical combat video games. More
importantly, though, I think games have expanded to the point where a
lot of games now employ strategic elements in the same way almost
every game seems to offer crafting and role-playing elements. So I'm
not sure the question is really worth anything.

But the results could be unfortunate, since publishers often pay
attention to market research companies like this. The take-away from
this survey is, to a publisher, 'don't invest in strategy games.
"Civilization" and "Hearts of Iron" and "Dawn of War" and "X-COM" are
money-losers. Spend your development funds instead on the next "Candy
Crush" or "Call of Duty XXXIV". Which would be a shame, since the
strength of the hobby has always been in its variety, and the
homogenization of games to maximize profit has been a running concern
of mine for years.

(You may have read a post or twenty of mine bitching about that very
topic in the past ;-)

I will say, though, that I /am/ playing few strategy games these days
than I used to. But that has less to do with a decreased interest in
the genre and more because I find them such engaging time-sinks that I
purposefully restrict my access to such games just so I can play other
games too. It also doesn't help that a lot of strategy-game developers
have jumped head-first into the deep-end of the DLC pool; whether it's
Slitherine or Paradox or even Firaxis, every major strategy title (be
it "City Skylines", "Victoriana", any of the "Total War" games, or
even venerable "Civilization" has at least a half-dozen expansions
available to fill out the base game. It's just too damned EXPENSIVE to
play strategy games.


Do you find you've less interest in strategy games (assuming you had
any to begin with, of course)? Or are you just as deeply invested in
the genre as you used to be?







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* read summary here:
https://quanticfoundry.com/2024/05/21/strategy-decline/#02e7c03a47a306d87