I think any future subsim would have to be set in WW2 to survive in the market. The problem with WWI is dealing with all the historical restrictions where Imperial German subs bounced between restricted and unrestricted sub warfare, having to search ships, let the crew evacuate before sinking, etc. It was also a war in which the biggest sub-killer historically was mines and nets. I think that'd squelch player interest when a promising career is dashed in an instant by something you can't really defend against.
The problem with modern subs is there is no compelling back story. You can make up all the hypothetical scenarios you want but then you can't read the various historical accounts to keep your interest going. Tom Clancy is good but it's still just fiction. Going with straight Cold War scenarios like tracking enemy subs and playing 'hole in the water' isn't going to hold player interest either. Outside of torpedoing the cruiser General Belgrano and a few other incidents there just aren't many actual historical combat situations.
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