Science fiction games traditionally have a male-dominated audience, with a 2017 survey by Quantic Foundry finding that only 16% of sci-fi
MMO players were female, compared to 36% of
high fantasy MMO players. Thus, they are not as popular as
fantasy games overall, although there are exceptions.
BioWare games notably have a large female audience, with the players of
Star Wars: Knights of the Old Republic being 29% female. Sci-fi games often feature themes of saving
planets,
galaxies, or the
universe from destruction at the hands of other humans,
artificial intelligence, or hostile
extraterrestrial beings, culminating in exciting
set pieces. They sometimes feature peaceful
exploration of the unknown as a smaller part of the game, but rarely revolve around it, in contrast to sci-fi works of other mediums. Despite the creativity inherent in science fiction, many such games are formulaic and practical by necessity to conform to common gameplay mechanics, such as aliens being
humanoid so they act in a manner
shooter players are familiar with. Realistic playable space combat or
dogfighting in sci-fi games is relatively rare despite its prominence in other mediums of sci-fi. While stylized renditions are popular in genres like
shoot 'em ups, fully 3D games usually revolve around on-foot gameplay taking place on the surface of planets or within
spacecraft. Modern exceptions include ''
No Man's Sky (2016), which lets players explore a procedurally generated universe, and Starfield'' (2023), whose space combat was specifically cited as being inspired by 90's sims. == Prominent examples ==