Is the sim genre dead?

[FIREWALL]

As long as there's large websites like this showing interest in Subsims.

Some smart game company will pickup the ball Ubisoft dropped.

[Jankowski]

sims wont die for a looong time. look at il2 1946, soon to be releasing the 4.10 patch!

[Jimbuna]

Originally Posted by Jankowski

sims wont die for a looong time. look at il2 1946, soon to be releasing the 4.10 patch!

In fairness though...I think you've chosen one the most popular titles as an example, heck even I have that

[Gorshkov]

I agree PC simulators are pretty dead genre now and this won't change in the future. I think what mostly killed them was emerging of console games market which removed PC from position of most popular gaming platform. On the other hand it is almost impossible to develop advanced simulators on consoles due to many various reasons. What is worse younger gamers play usually on consoles and PC games (especially simulators) look like some dinos to them!

In sum PC simulators market shrink considerably in the last decade to the point all mainstream publishers abandoned it with UBI being the last example. Now PC simulators are developed almost exclusively by fan groups and companies present on both military and entertainment markets. Such situation means game development takes very long time (fan groups do not have enough money, they write games in their spare time) or games are quite expensive and not always possess features liked by players. That is why you have only those still "active" simulators left:

- Steel Beasts Pro - 125 bucks only

- DCS study sims family made by ED - each module bought separately, lack of dynamic campaign, quite long development time

Maybe Oleg Maddox will make a show with his Storm of War but let's wait how this game will finally look like. Anyway MS abandoned FSX, UBI most probably abandoned SH franchise, Sonanalysts left game market after DW release, etc. I intentionally do not take into account some old games still sold or modded today because this is another story.

And that is pretty much all...

[Hartmann]

And more

X plane (for flight sim)
Orbiter (space, upgraded to the 2010 version)
Arma (well is ground warfare , but is a sim)

I think that the market is reduced but in some cases in continuous development . flyght sims are the better situated while naval sims are near to the end.

The only way could be develop a 3d engine where can be possible use all type platforms, ships, planes, ... and easy to mod

[von faust]

I think that this is the end of Submarine Simulators

My dream is a new simulator like Dangerous Waters......but this is only a dream

[Frumpkis]

Originally Posted by Hartmann

And more

X plane (for flight sim)
Orbiter (space, upgraded to the 2010 version)
Arma (well is ground warfare , but is a sim)

Also, don't forget Microsoft Flight Simulator (2004 and FSX). The base product is officially dead, but there is a very healthy 3rd party market still active for planes and scenery. It's not a bad thing to have a 100% "dead" but stable and relatively bug-free platform for 3rd party developers to build on. MSFS probably has another 5 years or so of life, before a change in OS or GPU standards finally kills it off.

X-Plane is growing steadily too, from attrition of MSFS users, or people just looking for something new. I fly X-Plane frequently, and I've probably spent $150 in the last year just on payware plane models and scenery.

Also, Aerosoft (MSFS scenery and plane developer) is working on their own new civilian flight sim, due for initial in 2011 or 2012.

There will always be a civilian PC flight sim market. People like to fly for entertainment, and real-world pilots use it to keep their skills sharp (the pro version of X-Plane is even FAA-certified). It's a niche market, but the people in that niche spend lots of money.

[THE_MASK]

So maybe computer components manufacturers should pick up where pc game companies are giving up on pc games .