In 2018, there are many popular games coming out for various gaming platforms such as Monster Hunter World, Smash Bros Ultimate, and many more. But among those games, there is one type of game that dominates the internet. It is the battle royal game. Games such as PUBG (Player’s Unknown Battle Ground) and Fortnite are receiving a lot of attention because of the battle royal and survival genre. There are some reasons why these games are very popular.
Originality and Stream-able
The game such as PUBG or Fortnite is originated from the famous shooting game Counter-Strike and the Half-Life series, which already received a lot of appreciation in the past. For PUBG, the game development has been known as a popular mod in Arma 2. Both games are also extremely easy to find in either Twitch or YouTube live stream. Survival games always catch the eye of anyone because it is entertaining and thrilling at the same time.
The originality of the game is also can be seen on the design and general look and impression. Take a look at PUBG and Fortnite. The PUBG resemble a more detailed and real shooting experience where your movement will stutter if shot and the weapon accuracy and range is nearly similar to the real guns. Fortnite is more cartoonish, where you can build bases from either woods, bricks, or steels. The weapon design and performance are also quite far from the real gun, so the game is more suited to those who want to play a different type of shooting game.
Simple, fair, and humanly
One thing that makes a battle royal game is popular is the instant matching feature. The feature allows one game session to hold a certain number of human player. The all human player in a session also give people more entertainment and fun. Compared to the AI-filled game, all human player game is definitely more entertaining than an AI-filled game. This is because the sensation to beat a person and the competitive feeling will be challenged in a fun way.
The most important element in the battle royal game is the simplicity. Imagine you have to compete against many people, be the last one to live and you can just kill anyone you see. Pretty simple, yet people are not getting bored easily with this game mechanism. Another key feature for a battle royal game such as Fortnite or PUBG is the randomness. The randomness should be fair enough by scattering the weapon randomly in each game session. Also, you can’t expect when and where you will be killed or kill somebody, which make the game thrilling and entertaining at the same time.
Game accessibility and microtransactions
The popular battle royal games like PUBG and Fortnite can be accessed easily through Steam and Epic Game Launcher respectively. While PUBG has been released as an early-access game in 2016, today the game is still favored by many people and the improvement is constantly made by the development team of the game. On the other hand, Fortnite is easier to get compared to PUBG because it is a free while to play PUBG you have to pay some money. This free-to-play element combined with the thrill and joy of a battle royal game is what makes the genre popular in 2018.
Like the other online games, the microtransaction is an important key to ensure the survivability of the game itself because of the income. What’s good for most battle royal games is that the microtransaction is only limited to cosmetics and appearances, which has no effect whatsoever to the gameplay. So you can play the game without worrying about pay-to-win players that buy crazy equipment to beat the game with ease.
Become the talking of the internet
This game genre is also often times talked or trending on the internet. The exposure of this kind of game to people who literally don’t understand anything about a battle royal shooting game is what makes the genre popular through the entire 2018. You can find many memes and funny videos about either Fortnite or PUBG on the internet. The event launched on the game is also what make it relevant to the current trend or even creating a new trend.
The popularity of the game genre also reached the mobile gaming, where there are a big amount of people who don’t know any battle royal game in any console. Lately, you can easily find people ranging from elder, kids, youngsters, and adults play a mobile version of Fortnite or PUBG regardless of gender. Surely, the battle royal game is arguably still the most popular game genre in 2018.