Why 2016 is the year of strategy games

2016 is the year of the strategy game. With high-profile releases like Total War: Warhammer, Stellaris, and Offworld Trading Company receiving high praise and a massive amount of attention, PC strategy games are better and more popular than ever. And with heavy hitters like Civilization 6 cresting the wave and Dawn of War 3 on the way, they’re not going away any time soon.

But what’s behind this seemingly sudden explosion in popularity, especially in the United States where strategy games just aren’t thought of as a popular genre like it is in Europe? Certainly 2015 and 2014 had their gems, and indie strategy games like Crusader Kings II started to gain traction, but that was nothing compared to the massively high quantity of good, popular titles we’re seeing this year. Is this just a cyclical event that’s past due, or is something more at play here? We asked the people behind the biggest strategy games in recent memory to get some insight into why strategy games are rocking this year.