It may not surprise you, but the gaming industry, at least for the most part, is based on trends and cycles. This is relevant for single player games, and certainly even more relevant for online games. A new game comes out, everyone plays it for a while, it gets its time in the spotlight, and from there they move on to a title that will fill the gap. The circle of life continues.
Most of the time players will make sure to play with their close group of friends in the shiny new game that was just released. In my time, somewhere in the nineties, it started with Quake, moved to Counter Strike, and over the years we developed into Call of Duty, Battlefield, Overwatch, Rainbow Six: Siege, and even GTA Online was included in the list of many online games that gained world fame and were the hottest game at the moment where everyone plays And one that everyone tries to imitate and strive to be like.
The big bang of the genre
Then in 2017 we met a new phenomenon:
Battle Royale
. A very simple genre to understand: the last one to survive in an arena of 100 players - wins. The madness did start its first steps with
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds
(and from now on for convenience we will call it by its abbreviated and official name:
PUBG
), but it exploded as soon as Epic Games introduced the game mode in
Fortnite
. It dragged millions of players around the world with it of all ages (and a lot of kids) and became the talk of the day for a long time in the industry.
The hype has not subsided and only intensified. YouTubers and streamers made sure to continuously maintain and keep Fortnite as the undisputed ruler. Streamers like never stopped playing and promoting the game, some even made an entire career thanks to the game - Ninja (love it or hate it) gained world fame thanks to Fortnite. For a moment it seemed that the hype train was moving forward and Epic's title was in unassailable status. The success was so great that no one necessarily anticipated the change that would take over the industry: Battle Royale ceased to be a separate "game mode", and became an entire genre in itself.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds/Official Site, KRAFTON
The attempts to reproduce the success
Suddenly every new game and new network tried to ride the wave, and each one tried to give its own twist that would differentiate it from the competition. Some of them were even successful and still hold today. A prominent example is
Apex Legends
from 2019 by the Respwan company, distributed by EA, which was and remains one of the dominant battle royale games that still manages to maintain an impressive community, without suffering significant drops in the amount of its active players. Not surprising when it comes to a studio of former Call of Duty veterans.
And if we mentioned Call of Duty, we can't forget
Warzone
, which came out at the best timing: the Corona epidemic. When the whole world was locked at home and was just looking for a way to pass the time, and maybe forget about the sad reality that befell us. In just its first month of launch it gained more than 30 million players. Since then it has known ups and downs, Activision managed to release a mobile version and Warzone 2, and it is still considered one of the most popular titles among players today.
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Activision couldn't pass up the opportunity to join a trend/official website, Activision
Nor EA/official site, EA, Respawn
But not everyone was successful. We saw painful falls with Ubisoft and the game
Hyper Scape
, which failed very quickly and closed its servers after only two years. The game
Spellbreak
also
seemed like a promise, where the battles were done with magic instead of standard weapons, but it turns out that the gimmick was not enough to keep it alive and the servers were closed after two years.
And what about titles that weren't known as Battle Royale? Everyone felt obliged to add a separate game mode in the genre to try to attract the players:
Counter Strike
- which was known as a tactical team game suddenly released
Danger Zone
.
Battlefield 5
which was known as a network game with large groups of 60+ players introduced
Firestorm
. Even Call of Duty Black Ops 4 (released before Warzone) tried to fit in earlier with Blackout, or Fallout 76 with Nuclear Winter.
If you think it wasn't that bad because all the examples I mentioned are shooting games, then it turns out that even racing games, like Microsoft's Horizon series, featured a battle royale racing mode called The Eliminator. And of course you can't forget Fall Guys, which brought the arcade take on the formula, and it also managed to lose its greatness. The examples go on, but you get the point. Everyone wanted a piece of the pie, and gave their take on the genre that was slowly becoming overcrowded.
Fall Guys: A Different Take on the Battle Royale Formula/Official Site, Mediatonic, Fall Guys
So what actually happened?
Gimmicks for every game don't always work, and beyond the clutter and wear and tear of the material, one of the main components to the downfall of the genre is the persistence these games require. When you reach a situation where each title requires the players to know and understand the game mechanics and the various gimmicks in depth - not every player will have the time to invest in three-four titles at the same time.
After all, players who wanted to play Fortnite at its highest levels had to also master its construction mechanics in order to survive, or players who wanted to master Apex Legends would also have to be familiar with all the special abilities of the characters. This is not a simple task at all, and it requires a lot of time and perseverance. Usually the players will prefer to sink and specialize in one game.
This created a situation where four battle games maintain their undisputed dominance, at least as of this writing: Warzone, PUBG, Apex Legends and of course Fortnite, which was among the only ones that managed to preserve its player community in the most devout way not only thanks to being a battle royale. It was indeed the genre that put Fortnite in the center stage, but Epic Games realized very quickly that it needed to expand and make Fortnite a real platform.
Developing the community
It started from frequent changes to the game maps as the game seasons progress, but quickly moved to huge events with artists like Travis Scott, Ariana Grande, Eminem, Lady Gaga, and a long list of notable collaborations with so many well-known brands - within the game itself. Even Disney joined the craze and you can find skins of iconic characters like Mickey Mouse or Woody in the game. I remind you that Disney is considered one of the most family and friendly studios and suddenly it seems that it accompanies its characters to a Battle Royale game where Mickey Mouse, Woody or Elsa hold a submachine gun and are thrown into a battle arena. It's funny when you think about it.
Epic Games has become a crazy marketing artist, and in order to continue to refresh its wide platform, it recently also introduced three new game modes: a racing mode with Rocket Racing, a cooperation with a Minecraft-style lego, and a rhythm game like in the good days of Guitar Hero. Each of them is fundamentally different from the genre that made Fortnite so popular, and it is very likely that more game modes will be added in the future.
And that's even before we start talking about the new Creative 2.0 mode that Epic introduced last year, where it allows players to create their own content using the Unreal 5 game engine, and share it with the rest of the community. Fortnite has long since become a complete gaming platform, with Battle Royale being a fairly central part, but not the main thing. And probably not the future either.
Disney x Epic Games/Official Site, Epic Games
Fortnite Lego Islands/Official Site, Epic Games
So what will happen with Warzone, PUBG, or Apex Legends in the future? They probably aren't going anywhere either, certainly not anytime soon. They will probably continue to preserve their player community and their base will remain Battle Royale games, but they too have tried to refresh the formula more than once by introducing different game modes: such as classic and nostalgic Deathmatch in Apex Legends or zombies in Call of Duty. At least until the next big trend catches on and makes them irrelevant.
Activision learned and learned from Epic Games, and it didn't just introduce different game modes. It tried to copy the formula of Wizz created within Warzone "big events" that affect the game map, like a game mode of "Godzilla and King Kong" where the players had to avoid the giant creatures during the round. Moves like these help Activision make Warzone a platform that continues to generate trends that appeal to everyone. Not just for the hardcore players. Just look at Nicki Minaj, The Boys, or Snoop Dogg's Operators pack if you need proof.
Operation Monarch Call of Duty: Warzone/Official Site, Activision
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What next?
Apparently at this point the fame of the world passed her by. Just as Fortnite is trying to differentiate itself from the genre, so are the new online games coming out, and we've reached a point where no one is trying to compete in this genre anymore. You can see it in games like Sony's Helldivers II, which was released in recent months at the same time as the PlayStation 5 console and the PC, and which is gaining success and the limelight. at least for now.
Even Marvel just recently announced Marvel Rivals which is supposed to try and fill the void that Blizzard's Overwatch 2 can't, with team gameplay of six players against six others and a mix of special abilities in the arena. No trace of Battle Royale. Because as we said at the beginning - the industry is based on trends, and Battle Royale has not been the hot trend that everyone is trying to imitate for a long time.
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