The PS2 shooter era was dominated by games set during the second world war, but the 2007 release of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare forever changed the gaming landscape, popularizing a modern setting. While 2005’s Battlefield 2 was also modern, MW was arguably the landmark moment where publishers began to realize that gamers were becoming tired of WWII. But with Sniper Elite V2 releasing soon, developer Rebellion believes the market is once again ready for second world war games.
Producer Steve Hart was asked by GamerZines whether a WWII-set game was pastiche in this modern dominated generation:
Not at all, I think the market is ready for World War Two. You’ve seen the extra press the likes of Red Orchestra 2 have gotten because all of a sudden WW2 is a breath of fresh air whereas modern conflicts perhaps aren’t.
He continued, when asked why developers have moved on:
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 Two 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 Two, as I’m sure we’ll be seeing another one of those at some point.
Sniper Elite V2 is out in May, but are you ready for the return of WWII games? Would you want CoD to go back to the second world war? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
