5 Great Video Game Genres That Have All But Died

A few months ago, I wrote about how films are categorised into genres, and how many of these genres are subject to differing phases of mainstream popularity, with some drifting into obscurity or vanishing almost completely from existence after running their course with the masses. Like their cinematic counterparts, games can also be grouped into an assortment of genres and subgenres, from racers to adventure titles. These also go through phases of popularity, with some such as first-person shooters (like Call of Duty) and sports titles (like FIFA) dominating the sales charts year after year whilst others fall completely out of fashion with developers and effectively vanish from the gaming landscape as a result, with the odd exception. There's nothing to say that such genres cannot make a comeback, as point-and-click and tower defence games have done in recent years owing to the episodic release format and the rise of casual smartphone gaming respectively. The five genres featured on this list, however, are on their last legs, if not dead already, for an assortment of reasons that will be examined in due course.