<P> The earliest two documented first - person shooter video games are Maze War and Spasim . Maze War features on - foot gameplay that evokes modern first - person shooter games . Development of the game began in 1973 and its exact date of completion is unknown . Spasim had a documented debut at the University of Illinois in 1974 . The game was a rudimentary space flight simulator , which featured a first - person perspective . They were distinct from modern first - person shooters , involving simple tile - based movement where the player could only move from square to square and turn in 90 - degree increments . Spasim led to more detailed combat flight simulators and eventually to a tank simulator , developed for the U.S. Army , in the later 1970s . These games were not available to consumers , however , and it was not until 1980 that a tank video game , Battlezone , was released in arcades . A version of the game was released in 1983 for home computers and became the first successful mass - market game featuring a first - person viewpoint and wireframe 3D graphics , presented using a vector graphics display . </P>
<P> The earliest two documented first - person shooter video games are Maze War and Spasim . Maze War features on - foot gameplay that evokes modern first - person shooter games . Development of the game began in 1973 and its exact date of completion is unknown . Spasim had a documented debut at the University of Illinois in 1974 . The game was a rudimentary space flight simulator , which featured a first - person perspective . They were distinct from modern first - person shooters , involving simple tile - based movement where the player could only move from square to square and turn in 90 - degree increments . Spasim led to more detailed combat flight simulators and eventually to a tank simulator , developed for the U.S. Army , in the later 1970s . These games were not available to consumers , however , and it was not until 1980 that a tank video game , Battlezone , was released in arcades . A version of the game was released in 1983 for home computers and became the first successful mass - market game featuring a first - person viewpoint and wireframe 3D graphics , presented using a vector graphics display . </P>
when was the first first person shooter game
when was the first first person shooter game
1973
1973