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Behold the plethora of multiplayer shooters and quiver. I have long asserted that we are experiencing a golden age of multiplayer—never before have there been more and superior shooters available than at this moment, and the majority of them can be enjoyed completely free of charge. If only anyone could find the time.
If I were to characterize the condition of competitive shooters in 2025, it would be starved for attention. Every shooter is commendable, but the Faustian pact we engage in for this age of abundance is that every shooter is also a lot. Battle passes, event time limits, rotating stores, and ranked resets—competitive shooters don’t merely seek a place in your gaming schedule, they aim to become your long-term obsession.
Some insights from a turbulent year for competitive shooters as we transition into 2025:
The biggest shooters are nearing 10 years, or have already surpassed it
The victors of the 2010s live service boom continue their enduring dominance. In 2025, almost every prominent shooter that was a significant phenomenon 8-10 years ago remains a significant phenomenon today.
The most-played competitive shooters (in no specific order) in 2025 along with their release years:
- Counter-Strike 2 (update-sequel of 2012’s CS:GO)
- Fortnite (2017)
- PUBG (2017)
- Call of Duty: Warzone & Black Ops 6 (2020, 2024)
- Apex Legends (2019)
- Rainbow Six Siege (2015)
- Escape From Tarkov (2017)
- Overwatch 2 (update-sequel of 2016’s Overwatch)
- Team Fortress 2 (2007)
- Marvel Rivals (2024)
- Delta Force (2024)
- Valorant (2020)
This fact becomes increasingly astonishing the more I contemplate it. Being a daily player of PUBG or Fortnite in 2025 equates to being a daily player of Halo 3 in 2015, or a Quake 3 enthusiast in 2010. Naturally, we have only remained engaged with the same shooters for such a prolonged period because they evolve with the times. An offshoot of the modern shooter’s unmatched longevity is observing developers find ways to rejuvenate the old. Recently, this has entailed experimenting with drastic rule changes, upgrading the engine, and adding a “2” to the end, or even winding back the clock with playful “OG” modes that tap into burgeoning nostalgia.
Thankfully, competitive FPS is not a winner-take-all genre, but it is an environment that favors these entrenched entities—competitive games with ranked features that inherently compel you to improve over time, and exchanging your hundreds or thousands of hours of expertise for something new is a hefty proposition. Two shooters ceased operations in 2024 (more on that below), but one did manage to achieve substantial success.
Marvel Rivals demonstrates that ‘hero shooter fatigue’ was never a reality
It’s no surprise that a hero shooter developed by NetEase featuring globally popular superheroes is off to an impressive start, but Marvel Rivals’ breakout success is nonetheless noteworthy. It is the first shooter of its nature in years to surge like this, exhibiting all the traits of a game with long-term viability—debuting with a vast roster of 33 heroes that millions of players are still exploring, and with the entire Fantastic 4 set to join soon.
All this enthusiasm for a hero shooter, a subgenre that we have been told for years is no longer desired. It appears the “hero shooter fatigue” narratives aimed at Overwatch 2 and “confirmed” by Concord were never as justified as they seemed. Perhaps the perception of the genre’s fading significance relates more to Blizzard’s management of Overwatch or Concord’s lack of quality than to the potential for hero shooters.
2024 marked a significant year for third-person shooters
Two prominent successes of 2024—Helldivers 2 and Marvel Rivals—are third-person shooters. When was the last time such a situation occurred? The sample size is too small to declare it a trend (and we did witness one FPS breakthrough with Delta Force), but it serves as a vital reminder that a new generation of shooter enthusiasts aged 15 to 25, who were brought up on Fortnite or PUBG, could potentially ignite a wave for third-person shooters.
Selfishly, I hope that does not happen. First-person gameplay typically provides a better shooting experience than third-person, although Helldivers 2 introduced some ADS precision weaponry, proving it is possible to blend both styles. Importantly, Helldivers also sidesteps the awkward “swiveling robot” dilemma that plagues most third-person shooters by separating the camera from the character when not in aiming mode.
Crossovers are ubiquitous, and they’re increasing costs
- Overwatch 2 embracing a full anime theme with My Hero Academia, Cowboy Bebop, and One Punch Man events
- Rainbow Six Siege producing some truly dreadful Rick and Morty skins, alongside Nier and Yakuza for some inexplicable reason
- Call of Duty morphing into a revolving door of ’80s action franchises, monster films, and any streaming show
- Destiny 2 embraces a complete Dungeons & Dragons theme
- Helldivers 2 wades into Sony crossovers featuring a Killzone warbond
- Hunt: Showdown introduces a ’90s horror figure into the wild west, alongside Post Malone
is trendy right now
The Fortnite blueprint has now become the sole framework. While it is ever more challenging to anticipate which elements of pop culture will make an appearance in our beloved shooters—I like to envision an annual IP auction where video game executives bid for the rights to musical icons, classic films, and Amazon Prime Originals—we are observing a concrete strategy regarding how these niche cosmetics are marketed.
Crossovers are typically showcased as side events or exclusive “drops,” distinct from the standard seasonal battle pass or any other conventional progression route. They are prominently featured in the store tab, may contain details that exceed the norm, or align with a fleeting mode. Setting aside worries about mismatched crossovers ruining shooters over time, it would be simpler to support crossover bundles if they didn’t also promote charging a 2X-3X premium compared to a typical bundle. Developers with “economy” in their job title might try to rationalize inflated prices by pointing out that their earnings must be shared with the IP holder, but we can be straightforward: They are overpriced because they can be. Studios tested the waters of requesting higher prices for a similar product and the waters responded with “Absolutely.”
In most situations, at least. It was quite disappointing when Helldivers 2 suddenly released that exciting Killzone content only for players to find it cost nearly double a usual warbond—the feedback was so poor that Arrowhead apologized and offered the second half of the crossover for free 24 hours later.
New ‘sweaty’ shooters aren’t very well-received…
We could spend all day analyzing why players are not engaging, but my prevailing theory is quite broad: PC gamers aren’t searching for another “sweaty” shooter in their lives at this moment. Both The Finals and Spectre are tight, 3-player experiences that depend heavily on communication and penalize death by forcing you to wait. I had a genuine “it’s not you, it’s me” moment with Spectre Divide after being relentlessly defeated and spending the majority of the match watching others. I’m simply not in the mood for a shooter that demands obsession to derive enjoyment.
The exception here is Deadlock, a Dota-like shooter featuring advanced movement mechanics and some truly incredible character designs, yet it also doesn’t require you to focus on headshots like traditional, sweaty FPS titles do. Deadlock saw a surge in popularity in September when Valve hesitantly made its beta semi-open to the public, but has decreased in popularity since then despite numerous updates. It’ll be intriguing to see if Valve can attract a significant portion of Dota 2 and other players to Deadlock once it officially launches.
…But there’s a revitalized craving for casual enjoyment
I don’t believe it’s merely coincidental that Marvel Rivals and Delta Force are both immediately successful and relatively casual. Delta Force’s primary mode offers the type of expansive social shooter experience that is difficult to find outside the Battlefield titles it emulates—large maps, squad respawns, multi-flag capture. You can increase the intensity by engaging in the Tarkov-like extraction mode, but even that feels more relaxed than its rivals.
Delta Force is best enjoyed while casually conversing with friends, and I would assert that Marvel Rivals shares that characteristic. Yes, it possesses a ranked mode and requires teamwork just like Overwatch, but its heroes are, on average, significantly more powerful, and winning doesn’t necessitate the same level of coordination. That could change with this week’s season 1 patch, but for now, Rivals is thriving from not being overly focused on balance—it’s challenging to take the game seriously, making it easier to discover the low-stakes enjoyment.
This also reflects the types of shooters I’ve gravitated toward recently. I engaged in a lot of Big Team Battle across various Halo titles last year, returned to Battlefield 2042 (which astonishingly sold within the top 50-to-100 games on Steam in 2024, as per Valve’s ambiguous sales chart), and even stuck with Call of Duty longer than usual. Low-stakes, constant respawns, a consistent personal progression—perhaps it’s merely a phase, but I’m pleased that the social shooter is displaying signs of vitality.
XDefiant and Concord highlight why ‘good’ isn’t sufficient
I cannot extol the merits of casual shooters, respawns, and social gaming without noting two instances where this approach faltered recently. I had high expectations for Concord’s casual arena shooter modes, appealing firearms, and quirky characters following the beta, but none of the elements came together cohesively. It was decent, and I appreciated that it was a $40 FPS without microtransactions, but its sole progression at launch consisted of a series of cosmetics that were likely part of a battle pass at some stage anyway. It simply lacked an engaging hook.
XDefiant is a more somber tale. Ubisoft crafted a solid alternative to Call of Duty that was free, straightforward, and enjoyable. It had a sufficiently large player base that finding matches was never an issue, yet this time, being good wasn’t adequate. The singular takeaway I glean from both titles is that you cannot develop a high-budget shooter while expecting to draw away a massive audience from other high-budget shooters.
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