VGChartz’s Taneli Palola: “Tracking the history of an entire video game genre is quite an interesting, and undoubtedly difficult task, not least because it can be very problematic to pinpoint the exact origins of a given genre. Arguments can likely be made for a number of different games and points in time as the true birthplace of a type of video game, and that is certainly true for the real-time strategy genre. I certainly wouldn’t argue against a number of different opinions people might have in regards to where and when the genre originated. This all is to say that the point I’ve decided to start with is not one that’s universally agreed upon.”
Source: N4G PC History of Real-Time Strategy: The Birth (1981 – 1991)