Will FPS Arena Games (Quake, UT) Ever Make a ComeBack?

[Mai72]

I remember when I first got into PC gaming. UT and Quake were the top FPS games back then. I wasn't into Quake, but I played UT for hours every day. Every UT server was always packed with new players. Always! UT 2004 was great as well. I still play UT Black daily. Mostly against bots, because no one barely plays the game anymore. It took skill to play these games. Yea, I know that things change. Games evolve. The gamers who played these type of FPS games back in the day have either passed away, moved on to better games, or have life circumstances that don't allow them to game as much anymore. Or at all.

Will the FPS arena genre ever make a comeback?

The 21 Best Arena Shooters Of All Time, Ranked

First-person shooters have evolved over the years, but the arena shooter remains a classic staple subgenre — even today. These are the best of them.

gamerant.com

 

[KMFJD]

probably not

 

[Fenixgoon]

i tried Doom Eternal's multiplayer mode and it was very much a binary outcome - either you got stomped by the demons, or got wrecked AS the demon. interesting take on the multiplayer though.

UT99, Quake1/CTF, and The Specialists (HL mod) were my favorites.

 

[Artorias]

Unfortunately it will most likely not comeback as there is no longer any money in it.

Epic killed Unreal Tournament 4 because of Fortnite. It's all business nowadays. The modern generation doesn't play games like Quake anymore.

Why Unreal Tournament 4 Was Cancelled

Epic Games is not working on Unreal Tournament 4.

screenrant.com

Your best bet is for some indie studio made up of developers from the Doom and Quake era.

There is a small chance though that ID and Bethesda may revive Quake, however I'm not sure if they know how to create an arena shooter. The newer Doom games couldn't be farther from what the original arena games felt like.

 

[Stg-Flame]

Well, Escape From Tarkov is creating a side-project that is purely an arena mode and from the rumors I've seen with other games like Battlefield and CoD creating their own EFT-style game modes, there's talk about both Battlefield and CoD working on arena games as well.

I don't see them making a comeback as they've been pretty much been overtaken by the battle royal genre, but there are definitely some arena games coming out sometime soon. Besides, if you think about it, battle royal is simply an arena shooter but with more people and a larger play area.

 

[TheELF]

What do you mean come back?
Quake champions is an old school arena shooter.
They will probably never become popular again.

Quake Champions - Steam Charts

An ongoing analysis of Steam's player numbers, seeing what's been played the most.

steamcharts.com

 

[mikeymikec]

What goes around comes around. Clothes go in and out of fashion and back in again, many 'retro' games (or at least their genres) have been reborn in the browser or mobile. If people have derived enjoyment from them before, chances are someone will again.

Is there an FPS that offers a few calibration rounds for each player then automatically pits them against similar proficiency players, along with up-or-down levelling them according to how they're doing? In my experience the main problem with multiplayer FPS was that casual gamers get thrown into the same pot as those playing it daily.

 

[Tugrul_8192bit]

Somebody needs to mix RPG with FPS to do that. Only when I can level-up in battle and pick skills from tree, I will join such battle.

 

[Mai72]

Somebody needs to mix RPG with FPS to do that. Only when I can level-up in battle and pick skills from tree, I will join such battle.

Don't online shooters do that today? I was thinking Battlefield or Modern Warfare.

 

[Tugrul_8192bit]

Does battlefield add my char critical-hit ability? Or hit-point regeneration skill?

I think deus-ex has this but very very limited. System-shock also similar and also limited. I need something like path-of-exile style of development in a tense counter-strike-ish FPS.

Even a diablo-fps remake in steampunk world would work for me.

 

[cytg111]

Eh.. its morphed into battle royales, there is where its at today.
Comeback? Pubg is taking your call, for one.

Actually, I was competitive back in the Quake2 days (John Carmack is forever my rock star), the skills I honed up there serves me well in games like PUBG when I can lure my enemy into CQC situations.

 

[Zenoth]

The new Unreal Tournament was in development. But then Epic turned their zombie invasion Co-Op into what became Fortnite as we know it today.

And Fortnite will always - to me - be the 'Game That Killed UT', and proper Arena FPSes in general. Simply because other devs out there saw it and wanted a piece of the cake as well, so everyone jumped on the Battle Royale bandwagon. Not to mention that a proper Arena FPS game would require Bots as well (either to just play with and Vs Bots if the players is choosing so, but to fill up empty team slots when human players can't fill up a complete team in a 3 Vs 3, 6 Vs 6, 12 Vs 12 scenario and so on); which means it won't ever happen. Because the very developement of Bots in and of itself within the gaming industry is a lost knowledge and art, no one makes Bots anymore and I suspect no one would know how to make them anyway, for anything.

The last "arena" style shooter we had was, all things considered (* 'closest thing to'), Team Fortress 2; and at least that one is still alive and kicking.

 

[Shmee]

They are still here. I still play Quake Champions sometimes. Good game, but needs more development. The older ones, like Quake II are awesome. And UT99. I really liked the Quake II campaign. UT99 had the Nali Warcows, which were awesome.

I agree that the new Doom games aren't very good. Doom 3 or classic Doom is the way to go. Great atmosphere and mod support. I really like Project Brutality.

 

[Shmee]

Does battlefield add my char critical-hit ability? Or hit-point regeneration skill?

I think deus-ex has this but very very limited. System-shock also similar and also limited. I need something like path-of-exile style of development in a tense counter-strike-ish FPS.

Even a diablo-fps remake in steampunk world would work for me.

Actually, there are at least several RPG Doom mods. Also, since you mention Counter Strike, CSS had the RPG mods on some servers. And there are games like Destiny and Borderlands. There was Firefall too. What I want to see is a remade Starcraft Ghost, that would be a great title to have as an FPS with RPG elements.

 

[DigDog]

as someone who played quite a lot of Quake, you're not going to get PURE FPS MADNESS games into the mainstream simply because there is not enough population for those games that actually wants to learn.

The problem is that .. not everyone's is Rapha, or COOLLER, or Cypher, or Strenx. You find a game you like, decide to go into competitive, play for 3 years, and then, then you find out that you are just not good enough.

Now, FPS games, they can foster a number of tactical skills that can make you a good player, some games tend more towards one group of these skills, some others toward another. Depending on the game, you can absolutely be a beast without being a great aimer, or without having the bestest movement sk1lz, as long as the game design allows for it. And frankly, games like Quake, are VERY restrictive on the type of skill development you need, to get good.

I used to be a machine, at Blacklight Retribution, because i was really good at positioning, reading the enemy, and helping my team. Have never been a great sniper or the best aimer, and i certainly dont have world class movement.
These days im playing Ironsight, and .. i can't spot the enemy. I just dont have the talent, my eyes can't do it.
I'm absolutely horrible at any Battle Royale because 1. i crave action and hate camping, 2. i cant see people if they are any way in the distance.

The problem with Quake and Unreal is that, their skills pool, is too hard. You can play all you want but, unless you are gifted, you are just never gonna be any good at competitive. And people don't like that, people want to win. Quake players will LITERALLY sit in an empty server for hours and practice rail shots all by themselves.
Nobody wants to do that today. And, i'm not sure they are wrong, either.

 

[Shmee]

I thought Ironsight was discontinued? Did they bring it back?

 

[Stg-Flame]

Even a diablo-fps remake in steampunk world would work for me.

You mean Bioshock?

 

[Tugrul_8192bit]

Anything like System Shock 2 and a bit more depth on skill tree: https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/uXLdVS2ZP6RmLGvGRyhrnB.png

If BioShock is like that, I may try.

 

[Tugrul_8192bit]

But also like to have some hybrid of RTS + RPG + FPS like Planetside-2 with a touch of Diablo(or Gothic 2).

Planetside 2 + Gothic 2 mix would be awesome. Dragons + orcs vs APC+tanks+helicopters, with style.

 

[CP5670]

I don't see arena shooters ever becoming mainstream again, especially since they need a mouse/KB and don't work well on consoles or mobile. They will stay around as a niche type of game though. If you like UT, plenty of people still play UT99 and make new maps and content for it to this day. I still play it occasionally. There is not much need for a new game, which will never be as popular as the old games were in their heyday anyway.

 

[Zeze]

Somebody needs to mix RPG with FPS to do that. Only when I can level-up in battle and pick skills from tree, I will join such battle.

Overwatch, Valorant, Paladins, Destiny, Borderlands, etc.

And these are AAA titles.

I'm not a big gamer (I just play old games a lot) and even I know there are TONS of RTS/FPS & RPG/FPS.

 

[Motostu]

They are still here. I still play Quake Champions sometimes. Good game, but needs more development. The older ones, like Quake II are awesome. And UT99. I really liked the Quake II campaign. UT99 had the Nali Warcows, which were awesome.

I agree that the new Doom games aren't very good. Doom 3 or classic Doom is the way to go. Great atmosphere and mod support. I really like Project Brutality.

I like Quake Champions, but the wait times to join a game suck. Not sure if it's a lack of people playing or if there aren't enough servers. Also, really don't like that even a practice game against bots has to be played on their servers...at least that's the way it seems to work.

I still fire up Q3 here and there to get my fix.

 

[sandorski]

One day they may come back, but I'm not interested. They were awesome because they were New and the bleeding edge of Software/Hardware capabilities. Now much more detailed and sized Worlds/Maps are possible, but also much more diverse Gameplay mechanics are also possible. They were fun and exciting, but are kind of like playing War with a deck of cards wherein more modern games are like playing Risk.

 

[Aikouka]

Splitgate is an arena shooter, and it saw some decent popularity upon release.

 

[DigDog]

I thought Ironsight was discontinued? Did they bring it back?

free on steam. (also look for the "freemium" free bundle for noobs, too)

i'm playing it now, it's .. ok.