Rebellion: gamers are ready for WWII revival

Though widely considered tired and played-out, the World War II sub-genre is ripe for a comeback, so says Alien vs Predator developer Rebellion.

While discussing its forthcoming Sniper Elite V2 project with GamerZines, senior producer Steve Hart argued that the more contemporary settings favoured by the likes of Battlefield 3, Black Ops and Modern Warfare 3 are themselves becoming increasingly stale.

"I think the market is ready for World War II," he said.

"You've seen the extra press the likes of Red Orchestra 2 have gotten because all of a sudden WWII is a breath of fresh air whereas modern conflicts perhaps aren't."

Hart went on to offer his opinion on why FPS developers had recently chosen to abandon the time period in favour of modern conflicts.

"I wouldn't say developers moved on, instead they gave it the respect it needed and said 'Right, we've done that to death, let's go look at something else.'

"It just so happens that our timing for a World War II game is better than others out there, and gamers are ready for that now. Even better for us is that we're coming out before perhaps another Call of Duty set during World War II, as I'm sure we'll be seeing another one of those at some point."

The sequel to the solid 2005 shooter is due out later this year.

Rebellion isn't the only studio hoping gamers can stomach a return to WWII. Black creator Stuart Black is currently developing Enemy Front at City Interactive, also planned for a 2012 release.