[playa_playa]

I think there are characteristics of fighting games that contributed to the loss of interest that has nothing to do with increased interest in other genres. Certainly, I don't consider the rise of console FPS games to have contributed that largely; fact is, FPS games aren't all that gameplay-intensive.

Some contributing factors:

1) same mechanics of damage and health - this has been the same since the inception of fighting games. certain moves do a certain amount of damage. a certain accumulation of damage results in a KO. every tactic of fighting games has involved working towards this accumulation. I think a reworked concept of damage may result in drastically new approaches.

2) same interface - lifebar, super meter and time. what improvements have been made?

3) same franchises - making a deep yet balanced fighting game is exceedingly difficult. that's why you see the same franchises over and over again. but reusing franchises will eventually decrease interest at a certain point.

I think the genre needs an overhaul. maybe it could learn from the success of WoW PvP system? it'd be tragic to see its eventual death at its current trend. but then again, I don't really have an optimistic view of gameplay-intensive games like fighting and RTS games in general anyway. times have changed.