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DICE aren’t worried about military shooter genre oversaturation; “There are not that many out there”

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If you were to construct a narrative about the various creative strands at DICE, you’d probably say it all changed at E3 2013. After half a decade spent narrowing their focus to contemporary shooting alone, two DICEs have emerged this week: one in pursuit of past dystopian glories, and another with its head stuck doggedly in the contemporary FPS space.

Executive producer Patrick Bach isn’t about to apologise for the past five years of modern warfare, though. “We have more to do in that genre,” he says.

When IGN made reference to the ‘oversaturation’ of the military shooter genre in passing, they accidentally triggered a passionate defence in Bach:

“Is it [over-saturated]? Today? Really? There are not that many [military shooters] out there, to be honest,” he contested. “A couple years ago, I would agree. But now people are moving away from that genre. We’re staying because we have more to do in that genre. And I think if you have a great game, it’s a great game. Period. It doesn’t mean you have to have the hypest or the coolest new stuff.”

Moreover, the DICE producer claimed that the blame for oversaturation doesn’t lie with the leading developers in a genre, but with their imitators.

“Now, sci-fi is the s**t. Everyone is doing sci-fi. It takes a year, then it’s oversaturated because everyone is doing it and then everyone will move onto something else. I think great franchises stay where they think they should stay. You see Halo being sci-fi for many, many years, and now everyone else is doing sci-fi. So now it’s like, ‘Well, now it’s boring because everyone else is doing it.’ Not because they are doing it, but because everyone else is doing it.”

Bach condemned market research-driven development, which he said would result in a “probably mediocre game in the right genre, but that doesn’t do anything.”

“It’s not because you’re following a trend that you are successful,” he explained. “It’s probably because you’re sticking to what you believe in. Because then, and only then, do you have a chance to become the leader or the star, the thing that people actually care about.

“People will see that you have passion and soul in your product. And they’ll see if you don’t have it.”

Gosh: he really means it, doesn’t he? Never let it be said that DICE are trapped in the military shooter genre; it seems they’re more than happy to roll about in the bed they’ve made for themselves.

Thanks, VG247.