Rebellion: gamers are ready for WWII revival

By Fred Dutton Published 24 January, 2012

"A breath of fresh air" compared to modern shooters.

Though widely considered tired and played-out, the World War II sub-genre is ripe for a comeback, so says Alien vs Predator developer Rebellion.

While discussing its forthcoming Sniper Elite V2 project with GamerZines, senior producer Steve Hart argued that the more contemporary settings favoured by the likes of Battlefield 3, Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 are themselves becoming increasingly stale.

"I think the market is ready for World War II," he said.

"You've seen the extra press the likes of Red Orchestra 2 have gotten because all of a sudden WWII is a breath of fresh air whereas modern conflicts perhaps aren't."

Hart went on to offer his opinion on why FPS developers had recently chosen to abandon the time period in favour of modern conflicts.

"I wouldn't say developers moved on, instead they gave it the respect it needed and said 'Right, we've done that to death, let's go look at something else.'

"It just so happens that our timing for a World War II game is better than others out there, and gamers are ready for that now. Even better for us is that we're coming out before perhaps another Call of Duty set during World War II, as I'm sure we'll be seeing another one of those at some point."

The sequel to the solid 2005 shooter is due out later this year.

Rebellion isn't the only studio hoping gamers can stomach a return to WWII. Black creator Stuart Black is currently developing Enemy Front at City Interactive, also planned for a 2012 release.

Picture of Fred.

About Fred Dutton

Fred Dutton is Eurogamer's US news editor, based in Washington DC.

Read more articles from Fred by visiting the Fred Dutton archive page.

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Comments (87) Latest comment 4 months ago

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  • Thunderbolt #1 4 months ago

    This will sell like hot cakes

  • superfurry #2 4 months ago

    Well anything that gives us a break from all these fecking zombie games. They're as overdown as WWII games were a few years back.

  • NunianVonFuch #3 4 months ago

    How about something original Rebellion, ever think of that?

  • OnlyMe #4 4 months ago

    How about a revival of something that HASN'T been done to death in the last two decades?

  • Cowbomb #5 4 months ago

    Oh god the cycle's starting again.

  • Phantom_Dynamite #6 4 months ago

    We Need more Nam'

  • TazerFan #7 4 months ago

    This reeks of "talking ourselves into something we don't fully believe ourselves"

  • LazyNinjaUk #8 4 months ago

    Give me a brothers in arms style game with brit/Irish/scot/welsh soldiers, decent cover and shoot controls, destructible terrain, suppression mechanics, decent story and decent engine and I'm sold. I may be asking for the moon here...

  • frobitz #9 4 months ago

    I lurve me some WWII shooting. It never got stale for me.

  • superfurry #10 4 months ago

    @LazyNinjaUk I always thought that a Brothers is Arms style game about the First World War could be brilliant.

  • dirtysteve #11 4 months ago

    Proof will be in the playing Rebellion. Personally, I still think people won't get too excited about a WWII game, so they'll need to excel to get the attention they need.

  • username84 #12 4 months ago

    Yeah would prefer more WWII to more modern war. I find the Battlefields and Modern Warfares just kinda tedious testosterone fests. However I'm finding it harder and harder to get excited about shooters these days. Especially after playing Dark Souls.

  • eightbit #13 4 months ago

    There are no new ideas. =/

  • username84 #14 4 months ago

    @Phantom_Dynamite Agreeeeeeeed!!

  • Hellion83 #15 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 20:12:17 01-02-2012

  • FuzzyDuck #16 4 months ago

    About the only shooting game i'd be excited to play is Vanquish 2.

  • arcam #17 4 months ago

    Why does it have to be a revival. Just make a game and use the setting you want to!

    It's like someone flicks a switch and the entire games industry suddenly start making the same games until the next switch is flipped and the whole industry moves on to the next one.

    But yes, I'm ready for a WW2 game. Haven't played a good one in ages.

  • Fox89 #18 4 months ago

    OK, but I want to play as the Nazis. I know they were evil, but come on there has to be some good stories there. A German soldier caught between his conscience and his superior's orders fighting an ultimately doomed battle he wants no part in.

    Basically give me something a bit more Schindler's List-y. The thing that always irritated me about all the WWII shooters was not the over-saturation, but the fact that it was such a broadly missed opportunity for some excellent fiction.

  • danjfor #19 4 months ago

    I think I've seen enough video game war for a lifetime, really. Is there a sitting-in-the-retirement-home-trying-to-forget game yet?

  • Mister-Wario #20 4 months ago

    Oh, for goodness sake. Rather than just bouncing between a triumvirate of derivative ideas (WW2 shooter, modern shooter, typical sci-fi shooter) why not try something new? Are we really so unadventurous? Bioshock Infinite is set in a floating city in the early 20th century. Why can't we have more games like this? Or at the very least, more games like Metro 2033 or Dishonored? Yeah, these games do have clear influences from other places but at least they're trying to shake things up a little. I mean, videogames have got to be one of the most imaginative mediums ever: contexts that would ridiculed in other mediums are celebrated in this one: look at Mario. Look at Sonic. By all means have a healthy dose of "realism" in your work by don't be afraid to be imaginative too!

    I think an interesting genre might be a First World War shooter. Living in trenches, taking potshots at your enemy...yeah, it could be boring but it could also an interesting and, dare I say it, profound experience. Returning to a genre that was was once oversaturated based on the assumption we've forgotten about it doesn't strike me as the right answer at all.

  • Turrican_Freak #21 4 months ago

    no more WWII no more zombies

  • DrStrangelove #22 4 months ago

    Clearly what we need is WW2 with zombies, so esentially Wolfenstein.

    Jokes aside, wouldn't it be great if Valve made a Wolfenstein sequel?

  • Kujata #23 4 months ago

    I'd like some more Full Spectrum Warrior please.

  • guernican #24 4 months ago

    Make another Rogue Trooper. Seeds of a decent game in there, I thought.

  • beatwolf #25 4 months ago

    So it goes like this: WW2 - Contemporary Setting - WW2 again? thats considered fresh and new? My god this industry is just full innovative and creative souls

  • tachometer #26 4 months ago

    Moer Boer War please

  • simsini #27 4 months ago

    A Falklands game would be good too.

  • SASking #28 4 months ago

    @DrStrangelove Wouldn't it be great if Valve made HL3? lol

  • Letsalljusthavefun #29 4 months ago

    Um, could I suggest it's not the setting that's getting stale, but the genre? Or am I hopelessly out of touch here?

  • Timotei #30 4 months ago

    @Hellion83 Oh yeah, great idea, spend 80% of the game reloading and 20% shooting. That'll be fun.

    To my neggers, you'd like to spend most of your game pouring powder in to your musket, spitting a ball down the barrel and ramming in the wadding would you?

    You freaking idiots.
    Edited by Timotei at 24/01/12 @ 21:19

  • cowell #31 4 months ago

    a breath of old air really....

  • Limp_interesting #32 4 months ago

    Dont buy it.
    Simple as that.

  • dailygeek #33 4 months ago

    Gamers aren't ready for WWII games. Perhaps 'gamers' who's only experience of gaming started with COD4 and continued through that series might be though. I for one had enough of the Medal of Honour series, and original Call of Duty's, Brothers in Arms etc.. to last a lifetime, there was such a ridiculous rash of those games, like we have with Zombie stuff now. I LOVED Zombie games, L4D was epic, but it's ridiculous now.

    Please, stick your WWII games up your arse unless you have an incredibly original take on it, which, given the proven massive sales potential shown by the COD series, is unlikely to be the case.

  • Street89 #34 4 months ago

    I agree with him. Or the opposite, future warfare. *shudder* think I just leaked the next COD.

  • Anciegher #35 4 months ago

    I'm ready for a WWI game. Bring on those trenches!

  • Raiten #36 4 months ago

    Breth of freash air? more like breath of old air, the type you inhale in your lungs and pass out from suffocation.
    Seriously, is this what our beloved western developers are only capable of coming up with these days? either ww2 setting, modern or generic sci-fi? no wonder people are ranting about lack of innovation. Seems like our devs have been inhaling this "fresh air" of theirs in excess the past years.

  • Shikasama #37 4 months ago

    Yeah, because wether it is WW2 or Afghanistan makes a huge fucking difference to the deluge of first person shooters we have shoved down our throats.

  • curtlikesmeat #38 4 months ago

    DO NOT WANT.

    What I do want is size 72 font so that Rebellion can read the above more clearly.

  • Lunatic4ever #39 4 months ago

    WWII? So to make a step forward, we should now get back to WWII. Because a few years passed since the last Call of Duty right? Nope, I don't want to go back because I know that they won't offer anything new other than fancy visuals. Gameplay will be the same anyways.

  • Kami #40 4 months ago

    ...

    *speechless*

  • Doncommie #41 4 months ago

    Did anyone consider that you could release FPS games in different time periods at the same time?

  • Nismo400R84 #42 4 months ago

    What took only 12 comments before Dark Souls was mentioned my god

    Have been playing RO2 and am really enjoying it so yeah i wouldn't say no to more WW2 games

  • cheeky_pete #43 4 months ago

    The problem was never the setting it was the quality of games and I don't see this changing that.

  • lockload #44 4 months ago

    The market has moved on from WWII but if its a fictional story then it may be OK as at least it will not be another rehash of the normandy landings or pacific campaigns

  • Pumpatron #45 4 months ago

    For me it's not really that there are too many modern military shooters, it's that there are too many doing a very similar thing. I'd happily buy a modern or WW2 FPS if it was more single player focused, with a campaign that had a good length, good AI, and had a decent amount of freedom and replay value.

    If this turns out to be another game in COD template, then just setting it in WW2 won't give it a breath of fresh air.

  • Arsecake_Baker #46 4 months ago

    There are a thousand wars you can pick on and develop for!

    WWII has been done again and again, saying it's ripe for a comeback is lazy/cheap and boring.

    How about WWI? or Vietnam (from the NVA side), how about something from the Napoleonic or peninsular Wars, how about scrapping land based and putting us to sea in multiplayer armadas or even the boer war...the list is absolutely endless, falling back on WWII shows a very very tiny imagination!

  • cw- #47 4 months ago

    In The Name of the Brothers
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BjloV6fa9GI

  • SavageEvil #48 4 months ago

    Lol, a WWII game...how originally refreshing that is. Considering that there have been way more WWII on a whole, not sure how they expect to breath fresh air into the genre if they are going to tell the same kind of war story with the same kind of plots and basically shoot with crappy gun A and find slightly less crappy gun B and continue.

    How about we do something interesting eh guys? Could be WWII game but come at a different angle without the gun-ho one man army spew and probably along the lines of adventure and survival. Like the Last of Us game, seems so intriguing. Give us something like that in a WWII setting and focus on being crafty and ingenious rather than Rambo-ing through levels. Probably going to be another machismo fueled FPS like the rest.

  • Trafford #49 4 months ago

    It's the genre I'm sick with, not the era.

  • byakuya83 #50 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 10:03:41 30-03-2012

  • byakuya83 #51 4 months ago

    Post deleted at 10:03:41 30-03-2012

  • VibratingDonkey #52 4 months ago

    Though widely considered tired and played-out, the World War II sub-genre is ripe for a comeback, so says Mr. Steve Hart.

  • Nico4 #53 4 months ago

    Heh, I can imagine everyone going back to WW2, then back to realistic military shooters. Why is it, that no one can seem to come up with an original idea? Why does it always have to be in WW2 or in present time? Make up your own thing, damn it!

  • Apaar #54 4 months ago

    If it is a grim game from the point of view of Axis, then I'm interested.

  • anomagnus #55 4 months ago

    @Fox89

    That would make a brilliant game. But you know that the Mail, Fox News, BBC, etc would tear it apart.

    I can see tte headlines now 'video game shocker, teenage kids awake all night in cyber nazi bloodfest'!

  • jimr9999us #56 4 months ago

    Revolutionary War for me thx.

  • Timotei #57 4 months ago

    For the people saying "How about coming up with something original?", what exactly?

    Someone said Bioshock Infinite, a game where you can fuck around on hooks as well as shoot people. Yup, that'll make all the difference, instead of parachutes and being dressed in military uniforms they'll be dressed in shabby suits.

    The setting makes no difference whatsoever, the game mechanics will always be the same (It's all been done, now), what we need is exceptional story-telling, exceptional characters with great voice acting and astounding production values.

    WWII films were pretty much shit (at the least to the younger generation) until Saving Private Ryan came along which had all 3, let's follow it's example shall we?

  • ShiroBen #58 4 months ago

    Or, you know, something that's actually original. Just a thought, crazy I know, but there it is.

  • Timotei #59 4 months ago

    @ShiroBen LIKE WHAT???

  • Red-Moose #60 4 months ago

    Try something original like a ww2 game but with nazis run by a cartoon-devil hitler! And the nazis are zombies!

  • Kami #61 4 months ago

    @Timotei; The problem for me Timotei isn't that they want to make another shooter, but automatically regress back to that other overused staple; World War 2. No offence but if our forebears could see how much their war was being milked, I'm sure they'd be pretty pissed.

    So, what indeed. Well, we've done WW2 to death. We've done Modern Warfare. We've done science-fiction. How about a fantasy shooter? You know, get them to make up some gun concepts - imagination rules, Steampunk era with a gatling gun that straps onto your arm and whirls around your wrist maybe?

    You are right, of course, that it's hard for a shooter to be that original these days - harder still for an FPS. I think the problem is sometimes they're too much in their comfort zone - and it gets boring. A few years of World War 2, then people get bored, a few years of Modern Warfare, then people get bored and back to World War 2.

    It's just that people can see it now. And they're asking... is this really all we can do?!

    Which is, I suppose, a fair question.

  • tomjoadsghost #62 4 months ago

    If its going to be as crappy as their current gen AVP its irrelevant what time period its set in.

  • jawapower #63 4 months ago

    Could you imagine the reload time on a Napoleonic game: three shots per minute. That would make MW3 seem like lightspeed.

  • Timotei #64 4 months ago

    @Kami A reasoned reply and one I welcome. All the people shouting "original" have no idea what original could be any more, simply because there isn't anything left.

    Only things we've explored in the past can be refined. That's it.

    I, for one, would love a WWII shooter with modern day visuals, and a heart breaking story. But as a few other posters have already said, the focus will be on multiplay rather than campaign. A sad indictment of profitable publishing.

  • Bremenacht #65 4 months ago

    All hail the new pew.

    (Same as the old pew)

  • sourc0r #66 4 months ago

    I still have faith in a fresh and decent WWII game. There's got to be more than running across Europe from Soviet Russia, to France and finally to Germany, only to be 'enriched' with pacifical setpieces, killing as many Nazis as possible before the war is over, c'mon.

    And I'm NOT talking about Zombies.

  • igirox #67 4 months ago

    He is so full of shit. WWI perhaps or some colonial war but certainly not WWII. Where is he getting that fact that the gamers are ready for that now? Out of his arse? Better do your market research right than blame piracy later on. F****n hate when developers tell me what I want to play.

  • escapo #68 4 months ago

    Shooter/stealth thinger set in the Vietnam War against France then USA as Viet Minh/Cong would be lovely. No Rolling Stones.

  • werewolf_poo #69 4 months ago

    @simsini now THAT would be the baws!

  • stryker1121 #70 4 months ago

    @Pumpatron Very good point..I stopped playing military shooters after CoD4 b/c of the short campaigns and MP focus. As a few other folks have said here, give me a war shooter w/ an actual attempt at a real, poignant story. Lord knows the subject matter is rife for some potentially very good story-telling. Question is, can devs deliver, and secondly, Why should they even try when MP-focused shooters sell like mad?

  • TheGuvernor #71 4 months ago

    I love WWII shooters - as long as their good!

  • HeNiCiDe1988 #72 4 months ago

    hahaha totally missing that vietnam isnt touched at all(probably because its a massive fail for america) or World War I or korean war not that popular.

    But frankly I wouldnt mind a original war game and military shooters coming out, I think thats what we are in dire need of, one that doesnt have blatent commie v america or iran v america etc. Like a totally fictional world and then they could get far more meaningful in storylines.
    Edited by HeNiCiDe1988 at 24/01/12 @ 23:39

  • wizbob #73 4 months ago

    ONLY THE DEAD HAVE SEEN THE END OF WAR

  • rawtheory #74 4 months ago

    After I bought AvP I've sworn to never buy another one of rebellions products esp. if its published by SEGA.

  • king26 #75 4 months ago

    Give us a AAA WW2 shooter from the perspective of the Japanese, Russian, British (no posh accents), German, Polish etc just no more fucking Americans PLEASE!!

  • asho #76 4 months ago

    No No im bored of the past, I want futuristic so no, Gamers are not ready for this AGAIN.

  • king26 #77 4 months ago

    Would love a WW2 themed Battlefield 3 expansion pack (similar to Vietnam in BC2). I suppose that would do me for MP.

  • Okamiwolf #78 4 months ago

    First World War or Korean war would be the next big thing for me. Or a historical FPS that explores time periods like the Crimean, Zulu and Boer wars. And you get to play as a Zulu as well and try and take Rorke's Drift.
    Edited by Okamiwolf at 25/01/12 @ 00:48

  • metallicorphan #79 4 months ago

    Fictional WWIII game set in the 50s or 60s

  • NewbieZilla #80 4 months ago

    I would prefer a good shooter. Deliver on that, and I'll be in.

  • Casserole #81 4 months ago

    Alien invasions
    WW2
    Modern day warfare
    Zombies

    rinse and repeat

  • Stuz359 #82 4 months ago

    Monsters, Zombies, Nazi's, Arabs, Aliens, it's all really the same isn't it? Putting things in different settings or time periods doesn't disguise the fact that essentially all you're doing is shooting some poor unfortunate in the face ad nauseum.
    Edited by Stuz359 at 25/01/12 @ 08:42

  • CORIANA_SIX #83 4 months ago

    War? What is it good for!?

  • username84 #84 4 months ago

    @Arsecake_Baker A Crass fan playing war games! my world view has gone all topsy turvey.

  • LEONOFDEATH #85 4 months ago

    I have no problem with Modern Shooters. There are a f**k ton more WW2 shooters about, Not recent ones, But there are.

    I prefer modern shooters because I prefer modern guns. Its not the era thats getting stale, Its the ideas within the games.

    Red Orchestra is a great game, But I didnt buy it for lack of WW2 games, I bought it because i loved the way it works.

  • Turfschipper #86 4 months ago

    WWII has maybe many games. But only a few storys been told over and over again. WWII has billion storys perfect for games.

    But i will be standing on the beaches first wave, cause when there is nazi shooting: i am in!!

  • EricCartman1st #87 4 months ago

    @NunianVonFuch well they have a great track record of reviving stale genres , they did an amazing job on Aliens vrs Predator cough cough ,after years in development it was at best a passable PS2, game i think if gamers are looking for a rehashed copy and paste WW2 shooter i think Activision pretty much got it covered.