When taking a look at historical first-person shooters, gamers will notice that the vast majority of the titles available in the genre primarily cover World War II and modern warfare, with the occasional futuristic shooters and other wars like World War I sprinkled in. But one particular war that is typically absent is the Vietnam War. Sure, there have been a couple of titles that have visited the mid-20th century conflict, but they are very few and far between. In this blog, we’ll be discussing the lack of Vietnam war shooters, and why gamers haven’t seen many titles covering this particular era.
The Outliers
When talking about video games set during the Vietnam War, most gamers will immediately bring up the most recent entry into the long-running Call of Duty franchise, Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War. This title received a lot of attention for throwing players into the Cold War. However, it also featured a revealing flashback to the Vietnam War, a period previously only explored by the original Call of Duty: Black Opsfrom 2010.
Many consider the 2010 game one of the greatest titles from the Call of Duty franchise not only because of its excellent maps and online gameplay, but also because of its unique setting and story that felt far more ambitious than most of Call of Duty’s other entries. The only other noteworthy game that took players to the Vietnam war was an earlyBattlefield game released way back in 2004 for PC, entitled Battlefield Vietnam.
Less Clear Villains
So, why are there so few video games set during the Vietnam war? Well, there are probably multiple reasons for this. For starters, Vietnam is just not as iconic as the first or second World Wars. World War II, in particular, is featured so much in gaming because of its grand scale, global impact, and the fact that there were clear “good guys” and “bad guys” in the conflict.
That last point is especially important – it’s easy to market something that has clear heroes and villains. The general public can easily agree that the Nazi party is bad, and as a result, it’s quite easy to sell games with Nazis as the main antagonists. That’s part of the reason why Call of Duty’s Nazi Zombies mode is so popular and why Nazis have appeared in so many different video games as the main villains. The Vietnam War is a little more vague, even from the viewpoint of the United States. It was less black-and-white when it came to who was “good” and “bad,” and people sometimes get uncomfortable when video games question their morals. The Vietnam War, as a result, is a more difficult time to set a game within and is more likely to offend.
Still Too Soon
Another potential issue with having a game set during the Vietnam War is it simply being too soon, historically speaking. World War II occurred over 75 years ago, while the Vietnam War began in the 1950s and bled into the mid-’70s. With the war being both more controversial and much more recent, it makes sense for developers to be more hesitant to develop games set within the period.
With Call of Duty Black Ops: Cold War recently released, perhaps it is a sign that more games set during the Vietnam War will follow in the future; but at this time, it still seems that most developers aren’t as comfortable with the Vietnam War. The passage of time may very well change this, but for these various reasons, it appears that this time period is still mostly off-limits for many developers.
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At Epoch Xperience, we specialize in creating compelling narratives and provide research to give your game the kind of details that engage your players and create a resonant world they want to spend time in. If you are interested in learning more about our gaming research services, you can browse Epoch Xperience’s service on our parent site, SJR Research.
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(This article is credited to Ben Price. For as long as he can remember, Ben has always loved playing, discussing, and writing about video games. Since receiving his B.A. in English, he now writes about them for a living.)