Real-time strategy

In a real-time strategy game you gather resources, build structures and command many units at once, all continuously rather than in turns. You control the units indirectly, by giving orders rather than playing as one of them.

Where the name comes from

Brett Sperry of Westwood Studios chose the name “real-time strategy” to market Dune II (1992), after the team weighed “real-time war game”, “wargame” and “strategy game”.

Where the edges are

Which game was first is argued: candidates include Utopia and Cytron Masters (both 1982), Stonkers, Nether Earth, Bokosuka Wars and Dune II. Utopia is a turn-based hybrid that one writer says has “more in common with SimCity than it does with Dune II”. Writers also argue whether the MOBA, which grew out of RTS mods, is still a branch of the genre.

Key real-time strategy games

Each game links to its article; the last column links to the source that puts it in the genre.

Related genres: MOBA, 4X, Grand strategy.

At a glance

Parent genre

Strategy

Named by

Brett Sperry, Westwood (Dune II)

Also called

RTS

Sources

Checked November 3, 2026.

1. GameSpot Presents: A History of Real-Time Strategy Games — GameSpot (Internet Archive copy)
2. Real-time strategy — Wikipedia
3. Build, gather, brawl, repeat: The history of real-time strategy games — Ars Technica