Video game genre

Early attempts at categorizing video games were primarily for organizing catalogs and books. A 1981 catalog for the Atari Video Computer System uses 8 headings: Skill Gallery, Space Station, Classics Corner, Adventure Territory, Race Track, Sports Arena, Combat Zone, and Learning Center.{{cite web |title=Atari VCS Catalog English - CO16725-Rev. D |url=http://www.atarimania.com/catalog-atari-atari-usa-co16725-rev-d_3_2.html |website=Atari Mania |date=1981}} ("Classics", in this case, refers to chess and checkers.) In Tom Hirschfeld's 1981 book How to Master the Video Games, he divides the games into broad categories in the table of contents: Space Invaders-type, Asteroids-type, maze, reflex, and miscellaneous.{{cite book |last1=Hirschfeld |first1=Tom |title=How to Master the Video Games |date=November 1981 |publisher=Bantam Books |isbn=978-0553201642 |url=https://archive.org/details/book_how_to_master_video_games/page/n9}} The first two of these correspond to the still-used genres of fixed shooter and multidirectional shooter.

For home computers, two publications established a small number of categories based on the best-selling software in the early 1980s: Softalk, which ran its Top Thirty list from 1980 to 1984 with the genres of strategy, adventure, fantasy and arcade; and Computer Gaming World, which collected user-submitted rankings. Computer Gaming World initially used three categories in 1981—arcade, wargame, and adventure—but by 1989 had expanded its genre list to strategy, simulation, adventure, role-playing adventure, wargame, and action/arcade.

Chris Crawford attempted to classify video games in his 1984 book The Art of Computer Game Design. Crawford focused on the player's experience and activities required for gameplay.{{cite book|last1=Wolf|first1=Mark J.P.|date= 2008|title=The Video Game Explosion: A History from PONG to Playstation and Beyond|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XiM0ntMybNwC&q=video+game+genres|publisher=ABC-CLIO|page= 259|isbn=978-0313338687|access-date=2014-12-03}} He wrote, "the state of computer game design is changing quickly. We would therefore expect the taxonomy presented [in this book] to become obsolete or inadequate in a short time."{{cite book|last1=Chris|first1=Crawford|date=1982|title=The Art of Computer Game Design|url=http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~stewart/cs583/ACGD_ArtComputerGameDesign_ChrisCrawford_1982.pdf|chapter=A Taxonomy of Computer Games|access-date=2014-12-03|url-status=live|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141015212131/http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/~stewart/cs583/ACGD_ArtComputerGameDesign_ChrisCrawford_1982.pdf|archive-date=2014-10-15}}

Nintendo, in bringing its Famicom system into the North American market as the Nintendo Entertainment System in 1985, looked to avoid the issues with loss of publishing control that had led to the video game crash of 1983 and to prevent unauthorized games for the system.{{cite journal | title = The Nintendo Entertainment System and the 10NES Chip: Carving the Video Game Industry in Silicon | first = Casey | last = O'Donnell | date = 2011 | journal = Games and Culture | volume = 6 | issue = 1 | pages = 83–100 | doi = 10.1177/1555412010377319 | s2cid = 53358125 }} To solve this, Nintendo required approval of all games for the NES. To support this, Nintendo classified games into eight major series: Adventure, Action, Sports, Light-Gun, Programmable, Arcade, Robot, and Educational. The series description appeared on early "black box" covers and subsequently in the NES Player's Guide.{{cite book | title = The Official Nintendo Player's Guide | publisher = Nintendo of America | year = 1987 }} By the time of the Game Boy and Super Nintendo Entertainment System, Nintendo had retired the Arcade, Light-Gun, Robot, Programmable, and Educational series, but added RPG & Simulation and Puzzle.{{cite book | title = Super Nes Nintendo Player's Guide Book | publisher = Nintendo of America | year = 1993 }}{{cite book | title = Game Boy Nintendo's Player's Guide | publisher = Nintendo of America | year = 1991 }}

Consoles manufacturers that followed the NES followed similar behavior in requiring licenses to develop games for their systems. To assure they would get these licenses, console developers tended to stay with gameplay of previously published games for that console, thus causing groups of games within the same genre to grow.{{cite web | url = https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-08-19/epic-games-fortnite-battle-with-apple-and-google-can-be-traced-to-nintendo-tax | title = Epic's Battle With Apple and Google Actually Dates Back to Pac-Man |first1 = Takahashi | last1 = Mochizuki | first2=Vlad | last2 =Savov | date = August 25, 2020 | access-date = August 25, 2020 | work = Bloomberg News }} Subsequently, retailers displayed games grouped by genres, and market research firms found that players had preferences for certain types over others, based on region, and developers could plan out future strategies through this.

With the industry expanding in the 1990s and budgets for video games began growing, large publishers like Electronic Arts began to form to handle the marketing and publication of games, both for consoles and personal computers. Targeting high-value, low-risk video game genres was key for some publishers, and small and independent developers were typically forced to compete by abandoning more experimental gameplay and settling into the same genres used by larger publishers.{{cite web| title=Background: The Origins of Game Genres| url=http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4074/the_designers_notebook_sorting_.php| author=Adams, Ernest| author-link=Ernest W. Adams| date=2009-07-09| publisher=Gamasutra| access-date=2014-12-03| url-status=dead| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141217155232/http://www.gamasutra.com/view/feature/4074/the_designers_notebook_sorting_.php| archive-date=2014-12-17}}

As hardware capabilities have increased, new genres have become possible, with examples being increased memory, the move from 2D to 3D, new peripherals, online functionalities, and location-based mechanics. Experimental gameplay from indie game development drew more attention in the late 2000s and 2010s aided by independent digital distribution, as large publishers focused on triple-A titles were extremely risk-averse.{{citation |url= https://www.economist.com/blogs/economist-explains/2014/09/economist-explains-15 |newspaper=The Economist |title=Why video games are so expensive to develop |date=24 September 2014}} Through indie games, a revival of experimental gameplay had emerged, and several new genres have emerged since then.

File:Doom_clone_vs_first_person_shooter.png

Due to "direct and active participation" of the player, video game genres differ from literary and film genres. Though one could state that Space Invaders is a science fiction video game, author Mark J.P. Wolf wrote that such a classification "ignores the fundamental differences and similarities which are to be found in the player's experience of the game". In contrast to the visual aesthetics of games, which can vary greatly, it is argued that it is interactivity characteristics that are common to all games.

Like film genres, the names of video game genres have come about generally as a common understanding between the audience and the producers. Descriptive names of genres take into account the goals of the game, the protagonist and even the perspective offered to the player. For example, a first-person shooter is a game that is played from a first-person perspective and involves the practice of shooting.{{cite book|last1=Lecky-Thompson|first1=Guy W.|date= 2008-01-01|title=Video Game Design Revealed|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=3aQLAAAAQBAJ&q=video+game+genres|publisher=Cengage Learning|page= 23|isbn=978-1584506072|access-date=2014-12-03}} Whereas "shooter game" is a genre name, "first-person shooter" and "third-person shooter" are common subgenres of the shooter genre.{{cite book|last1=Thorn|first1=Alan|date= 2013-05-30|title=Game Development Principles|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=6SULAAAAQBAJ&q=video+game+genres|publisher=Cengage Learning|pages= 4–5|isbn=978-1285427065|access-date=2014-12-03}} Other examples of such prefixes are real-time, turn based, top-down and side-scrolling.

Genre names may evolve over time. The platform game genre started as "climbing games", based on Steve Bloom's 1982 book Video Invaders, as they were inspired by games like Donkey Kong with ladders and jumping.{{cite book |last1=Bloom |first1=Steve |title=Video Invaders |date=1982 |publisher=Arco Publishing |isbn=978-0668055208 |page=[https://archive.org/details/book_video_invaders/page/n49 29] |url=https://archive.org/details/book_video_invaders}} The same term was used by the US and UK press in 1983, including magazines Electronic Games and TV Gamer.{{cite journal|title=The Player's Guide to Climbing Games|journal=Electronic Games|date=January 1983|volume=1|issue=11|page=49|url=https://archive.org/stream/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_11_1983-01_Reese_Communications_US#page/n47/mode/2up|access-date=2015-03-19|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160319134356/https://archive.org/stream/Electronic_Games_Volume_01_Number_11_1983-01_Reese_Communications_US#page/n47/mode/2up|archive-date=2016-03-19|url-status=live}}{{cite journal |title=Reviews Explained: The Game Categories |journal=TV Gamer |date=March 1983 |page=76 |url=https://archive.org/details/tv-gamer-magazine-1983-03/page/n75?q=climbing+games |location=London}} First-person shooters were originally known as "Doom clones" in the years following 1993's Doom, while the term "first-person shooters" became more common by around 2000.{{cite journal | title = Video Game Genre, Evolution and Innovation | first = Dominic | last = Arsenault | journal = Eludamos. Journal for Computer Game Culture | volume = 3 | issue = 2 | year =2009 |pages = 149–176 | doi = 10.7557/23.6003 | s2cid = 62171492 | doi-access = free }}{{Cite web|date=2020-02-05|title=10 Undeniable Ways Doom (1993) Shaped The FPS Genre|url=https://www.thegamer.com/doom-1993-ways-shaped-fps-genre/|access-date=2021-01-22|website=TheGamer|language=en-US}}

New genres emerge continuously throughout the history of video games, often due to the cross-pollination of ideas borrowed from different games into new ones. For example, the seminal text-based adventure game Colossal Cave Adventure directly inspired the Atari VCS game Adventure, but incorporating joystick control as in an action game rather than typed commands. Adventure served as the prototype of the action-adventure game genre that would be popularized by The Legend of Zelda.{{cite book | title = The Routledge Companion to Video Game Studies | editor-first = Bernard | editor-last = Perron | publisher = Taylor & Francis | date = 2014 | isbn = 9781136290503 | chapter = Chapter 29: Adventure | first = Clara | last= Fernandez-Vera | pages= 232–240}}

The target audience, underlying theme or purpose of a game are sometimes used as a genre identifier, such as with "Christian game" and "serious game" respectively. However, because these terms do not indicate anything about the gameplay of a video game, these are not considered genres.

{{main|List of video game genres}}

Video game genres vary in specificity, with popular video game reviews using genre names varying from "action" to "baseball". In this practice, basic themes and more fundamental characteristics are used alongside each other.{{cite book|last1=Egenfeldt-Nielson|first1=Simon|last2=Smith|first2=Jonas Heide|last3=Tosca|first3=Susana Pajares|date= 2013-04-27|title=Understanding Video Games: The Essential Introduction|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=0tygn2UisUoC&q=video+game+genres|publisher=Routledge|page= 46|isbn=978-1136300424|access-date=2014-12-03}}

A game may combine aspects of multiple genres in such a way that it becomes hard to classify under existing genres. For example, because Grand Theft Auto III combined shooting, driving and roleplaying in an unusual way, it was hard to classify using existing terms. The term Grand Theft Auto clone has been used to describe games mechanically similar to Grand Theft Auto III. Similarly, the term roguelike has been developed for games that share similarities with Rogue.{{cite web| title=ManaPool Guide to Roguelikes| url=http://www.manapool.co.uk/mana-pool-guide-to-roguelikes/| date=2010-11-21| publisher=ManaPool| access-date=2014-11-06| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141106151924/http://www.manapool.co.uk/mana-pool-guide-to-roguelikes/| archive-date=2014-11-06}}

Elements of the role-playing genre, which focuses on storytelling and character growth, have been implemented in many different genres of video games. This is because the addition of a story and character enhancement to an action, strategy or puzzle video game does not take away from its core gameplay, but adds an incentive other than survival to the experience.{{cite web| title=RPGs Took Over Every Video Game Genre| url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/12/12/rpgs-took-over-every-video-game-genre| author=Clements, Ryan| date=2012-12-12| publisher=IGN| access-date=2014-12-03| url-status=live| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20141208073441/http://www.ign.com/articles/2012/12/12/rpgs-took-over-every-video-game-genre| archive-date=2014-12-08}}

In addition to gameplay elements, some games may be categorized by other schemes; such are typically not used as genres:

• By platform: generally to the nature of the computer hardware that the game is played on and not the specific branding. This would include game genres like mobile games for smartphone, tablet computers, or other similar portable devices; and browser games that can be played in a web browser. Identification of the type of hardware a game is played on implied certain limits to the type of gameplay that is available; a mobile game will typically lack as much action compared to a game playable on a home console or computer due to limitations on player input.
• By mode: referring to whether a game is single player, multiplayer, or variations on that, including massively multiplayer online (MMO) games, cooperative games, player versus environment (PvE) or player versus player (PvP) games, and so forth.
• By narrative: Classifying video games by their narrative style, such as science fiction or fantasy, is typically not used within the field, with the key exception of horror games, which broadly cover any game dealing with elements of horror fiction.

According to some analysts, the percentage of each broad genre in the best-selling physical games worldwide is broken down as follows.{{cite journal |last1=Lessard |first1=Jonathan |title=Early Computer Game Genre Preferences (1980-1984) |journal=Proceedings of the 2015 DiGRA International Conference |date=2015 |volume=12 |url=http://www.digra.org/digital-library/publications/early-computer-game-genre-preferences-1980-1984/ |access-date=18 July 2019}}{{cite web |url= http://www.mweb.co.za/games/view/tabid/4210/Article/28870/ESA-Report-Best-selling-video-games-and-super-genres-of-2016.aspx |title=ESA Report: Best-selling video games and super genres of 2016 |website=MWEB Gamezone |author1= Lola |date=April 22, 2017 |access-date=2017-12-26 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171227061829/http://www.mweb.co.za/games/view/tabid/4210/Article/28870/ESA-Report-Best-selling-video-games-and-super-genres-of-2016.aspx |archive-date=2017-12-27 }}

In the last decade, puzzle games have declined when measured by sales, however, on mobile, where the majority of games are free-to-play, this genre remains the most popular worldwide.{{cite web |url=https://www.gamedeveloper.com/business/games-rule-the-itunes-app-store-most-popular-genres-revealed |title=Games rule the iTunes App Store: Most popular genres revealed |date=16 December 2014 |first1=Simon |last1=Hill |website=Gamasutra |access-date=2017-12-27 |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171228000114/https://www.gamasutra.com/blogs/SimonHill/20141216/232458/Games_rule_the_iTunes_App_Store_Most_popular_genres_revealed.php |archive-date=2017-12-28 }}{{Cite web |last=Hill |first=Simon |title=Games Rule The App Stores: Most Popular Genres 2020-2021 |url=https://www.localizedirect.com/posts/most-popular-game-genres-revealed |website=LocalizeDirect |date=2021-05-28 |language=en |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230602195147/https://www.localizedirect.com/posts/most-popular-game-genres-revealed/ |archive-date= Jun 2, 2023 }}

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• {{Commonscatinline|Video games by genre}}

{{Video game genre}}