I'm referring to games where you have to manage your resources, get food and water, and have at least some sort of crafting system. I'm aware of Minecraft and its clones, but the selection of survival games pales compares to shooters, puzzle games, and racing games. Why is there such a small selection? I'm aware there are some coming out, but not what would satisfy me. Not even hunting games seem to be about survival so much as about shooting aimlessly.
Why are there very few games about survival? What makes this genre unsuccessful?
John Robertson
They are extremely successful, which is why there are so many of them out now. However, it's a new genre, and many of them are by indie devs or just not advertised that much.
if you have a steam account, you'll see that there are a good number: day z, how to survive, and nether is just naming a few. These are true survival games: i still consider minecraft for of a creative sandbox, since things like hunger and monsters can be disabled.
Guest
There's a small selection because it's hard to get right and most big companies don't want to use their money for it because it is a risky genre which is why a lot of survival games (at least the ones i know of) start of as indie games (like minecraft i believe) or mods (like DayZ). It is a risky genre because it is hard to get right like i said and large gaming companies don't want to risk it so they don't bother.
Adrian