Every Significant Innovation in FPS Games

Generally considered the first first-person shooter (FPS) game, Maze War was created in 1973 by high school students using the IMLAC PDS-1 minicomputer. They quickly added the ability to play between two connected computers and included shooting mechanics by the end of the year. The game even spread to the ARPANET – an early version of the Internet – but was banned at DARPA because players were getting too distracted! While several iterations of Maze War were released, it’s considered a key pioneer of the FPS genre, alongside 1974’s Spasim, which also helped establish important elements of the gameplay.







