Extraction shooters are not the "next big thing"

[Basman]

You'd think with how much extraction shooters where getting hyped up that they would be here now but so far we got a bunch of a flops and some success with certain niche titles. The problem I think is the genre is inherently niche and too competitive and hardcore by the nature of its game design for mass adoption unlike battleroyales. In fact, I think the main reason why extraction shooters where hyped up so much is because its an offshoot of BRs so it would've been very convenient if it became the next big thing.

Having tiered loot means that hardcore players will have much better loot, which creates an unbalanced dynamic between hardcore and casual players. Tarkov, the most successful extraction shooter on the market, manages this by having a realistic time to kill, where you die in 1-3 shots. This alone already the makes the game too hardcore for average gamers but the alternative is having a very skewed balance where players with better gear are farming everyone else. Not to mention that playing with what is essentially permadeath will quickly demotivate a casual player if they feel they are not making any progress. Its fun to a very specific and competitive player who likes that kind of gamble that comes with permadeath. But it relegates the genre to being a niche. Hence why its so hard to compete with Tarkov. It has cornered the market for extraction shooters.

I have a bad feeling for the upcoming Marathon. If its good it'll probably be a bit too niche for mass adoption in the long-term which isn't what Bungie would hope for I bet.