Battle royale game

Page semi-protected
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that blends last-man-standing gameplay with the survival, exploration and scavenging elements of a survival game. Battle royale games involve dozens to hundreds of players, who start with minimal equipment and then must eliminate all other opponents while avoiding being trapped outside a shrinking "safe area", with the winner being the last player or team alive.

The name for the genre is taken from the 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, itself based on the novel of the same name, which presents a similar theme of a last-man-standing competition in a shrinking play zone. The genre's origins arose from mods for large-scale online survival games like Minecraft and ARMA 2 in the early 2010s. By the end of the decade, the genre became a cultural phenomenon, with standalone games such as PUBG: Battlegrounds (2017), Fortnite Battle Royale (2017), Apex Legends (2019) and Call of Duty: Warzone (2020) each having received tens of millions of players within months of their releases.

Concept

Battle royale games are played between many individual players, pairs of players, or a number of small squads (typically of 3-5 players). In each match, the goal is to be the last player or team standing by eliminating all other opponents. A match starts by placing the player-characters into a large map space, typically by having all players skydive from a large aircraft within a brief time limit. The map may have random distribution or allow players to have some control of where they start. All players start with minimal equipment, giving no player an implicit advantage at the onset. Equipment, usually used for combat, survival or transport is randomly scattered around the map, often at landmarks on the map, such as within buildings in ghost towns. Players need to search the map for these items while avoiding being killed by other players, who cannot be visually marked or distinguishable either on-screen or on the map, requiring the player to solely use their own eyes and ears to deduce their positions. Equipment from eliminated players can usually be looted as well. These games often include some mechanic to push opponents closer together as the game progresses, usually taking the form of a gradually shrinking safe zone, with players outside the zone facing elimination.

Typically, battle royale contestants are only given one life, and any players who die are rarely allowed to respawn. Games with team support may allow players to enter a temporary, not permanent, near-death state once health is depleted, giving allies the opportunity to revive them before they give out or are finished off by an opponent. The match is over when only one player or team remains, and the game typically provides some type of reward, such as in-game currency used for cosmetic items, to all players based on how long they survived. The random nature of starting point, item placement, and safe area reduction enables the battle royale genre to challenge players to think and react quickly and improve strategies throughout the match as to be the last man/team standing. In addition to standalone games, the battle royale concept may also be present as part of one of many game modes within a larger game, or may be applied as a user-created mod created for another game.[1]

There are various modifications that can be implemented atop the fundamentals of the battle royale. For example, Fortnite introduced a temporary mode in an event which is 50-versus-50 player mode in its Fortnite Battle Royale free-to-play game; players are assigned one of the two teams, and work with their teammates to collect resources and weapons towards constructing fortifications as the safe area of the game shrinks down, with the goal to eliminate all the players on the other team.[2]

History

Formulative elements of the battle royale genre had existed prior to the 2010s. Gameplay modes featuring last man standing rules has been a frequent staple of multiplayer online action games, though generally with fewer total players, as early as 1990's Bomberman, which introduced multiplayer game modes with players all starting with the same minimal abilities who collected power ups and fought until the last player was left standing.[3] The elements of scavenging and surviving on a large open-world map were popularized through survival games.[4][5]

The 2000 Japanese film Battle Royale, along with Koushun Takami's earlier 1999 novel of the same name and its 2000 manga adaptation, set out the basic rules of the genre, including players being forced to kill each other until there is a single survivor, taking place on a shrinking map, and the need to scavenge for weapons and items.[6] It soon inspired a wave of battle royale themed Japanese manga and anime, such as Gantz (2000), Future Diary (2006), and Btooom! (2009), and then the battle royale formula eventually appeared in The Hunger Games franchise.[7] Fictional battle royale video games were depicted in Btooom!,[8] and in the Phantom Bullet (Gun Gale Online) arc of the light novel series Sword Art Online (2010 in print) as the "Bullet of Bullets" tournament.[9]

Initial attempts at adapting the Battle Royale formula into video games came in the form of Japanese visual novel games that focused on storytelling and puzzle-solving, such as Higurashi: When They Cry (2002), Zero Escape (2009) and Danganronpa (2010). However, these visual novel games are distinct from the genre which became known as battle royale games, which emerged when Western developers later adapted the Battle Royale formula into a shooter game format.[7]

Early mods and games (2012–2016)

Shortly after the release of the 2012 film The Hunger Games, which had a similar premise to the earlier film Battle Royale, a server plug-in named Hunger Games (later changed to Survival Games) was developed for Minecraft.[10][11] Survival Games takes inspiration from the film, initially placing players at the center of the map near a set of equipment chests. When the game commences, players can compete over the central resources or spread out to find items stored in chests scattered around the play area. Players killed are eliminated and the last surviving player wins the match.[12]

In DayZ, a mod for Arma 2, released in August 2012, players struggle alongside or against each other to obtain basic necessities to continue living in a persistent sandbox filled with various dangers. The mod was designed to include player versus player encounters, but generally these events were infrequent due to the size of the game's map and the persistence of the game world.[13] This led to the development of game mods that sacrificed DayZ open-endedness in favor of focusing on more frequent hostile interactions between players to determine an eventual winner.

The most influential battle royale mod was created by Brendan Greene, known by his online alias "PlayerUnknown", whose Battle Royale mod of DayZ first released in 2013. This mod was directly inspired by Battle Royale,[14] and introduces concepts from the film such as a shrinking play zone that forces players into closer proximity as the game goes on.[6] In contrast to Hunger Games-inspired mods, in Greene's mod weapons were randomly scattered around the map. Greene recreated this mod for Arma 3 in 2014. Greene continued to use his format as a consultant for H1Z1: King of the Kill[citation needed] before becoming the creative developer at Bluehole of a standalone game representing his vision of the battle royale genre, which would later be released as PUBG: Battlegrounds.

Games from other developers took inspiration from highly played battle royale-style mods, as well as the popularity of The Hunger Games film series. Ark: Survival Evolved by Studio Wildcard introduced its "Survival of the Fittest" mode in July 2015, which was geared to be used for esports tournaments. The mode was temporarily broken off as its own free-to-play game during 2016 before the developers opted to merge it back into the main game for ease of maintenance of the overall game.[15][16]

In 2016, a battle royale mobile game, Btooom Online, based on the 2009 manga Btooom, was developed and released in Japan.[8] Despite some initial success on the Japanese mobile charts, Btooom Online was ultimately a commercial failure in Japan.[17]

Formation of standalone games (2017–2018)

While formative elements of the battle royale genre had been established before 2017, the genre grew from two principal titles through 2017 and 2018: PUBG: Battlegrounds, which soon inspired Fortnite Battle Royale. Both games drew tens of millions of players in short periods of time, proving them as commercial successes and leading to future growth after 2018. H1Z1: King of the Kill, which predated these two titles in the genre, had become a fixture in the top most played games on Steam by the start of 2017, but was not able to maintain its playerbase.[18][19][20][21]

PUBG: Battlegrounds was created by Brendan Greene, its title based on his online alias "PlayerUnknown". The game was based on his previous Battle Royale mod for ARMA 2 and DayZ first released in 2013.[5][22][23] Building on his earlier work, Greene went to work at Bluehole in South Korea, becoming the creative developer of a standalone game representing his vision of the battle royale genre, PUBG: Battlegrounds. While Battlegrounds was not the first battle royale game, its release to early access in March 2017 drew a great deal of attention, selling over twenty million copies by the end of the year,[24][25] and is considered the defining game of the genre.[26] In September 2017, the game broke the previous record for highest number of concurrent players on Steam, with over 1.3 million users playing the game simultaneously.[27] Battlegrounds' explosive growth and how it established the battle royale genre was considered one of the top trends in the video game industry in 2017.[28][29] Battlegrounds' popularity created a new interest in the battle royale genre. Numerous games that copied the fundamental gameplay of Battlegrounds appeared in China, shortly after Battlegrounds' release.[30]

Epic Games had released Fortnite, a cooperative survival game, into early access near the release of Battlegrounds. Epic saw the potential to create their own battle royale mode, and by September 2017, released the free-to-play Fortnite Battle Royale which combined some of the survival elements and mechanics from the main Fortnite game with the Battle Royale gameplay concept.[31][32] The game saw similar player counts as Battlegrounds, with twenty million unique players reported by Epic Games by November 2017.[33] Bluehole expressed concern at this move, less due to being a clone of Battlegrounds, but more so that they had been working with Epic Games for technical support of the Unreal Engine in Battlegrounds, and thus they were worried that Fortnite may be able to include planned features to their battle royale mode before they could release those in Battlegrounds.[13][34][30] Battleground's developer, PUBG Corporation, filed a lawsuit against Epic in South Korea in January 2018 claiming Fortnite Battle Royale infringements on Battlegrounds' copyrights.[35][36] Market observers predicted that there would be little likelihood of Bluehole winning the case, as it would be difficult to establish the originality of PUBG in court due to itself being derived from Battle Royale.[37] By the end of June 2018, the lawsuit had been closed by PUBG, under undisclosed reasons.[38]

In 2018, Fortnite Battle Royale rivaled Battlegrounds in player numbers[39] and surpassed it in revenue,[40] which was attributed to its free-to-play business model and cross-platform support, as well as its accessibility to casual players.[41][42] Battlegrounds creator Brendan Greene credited it with further growing the battle royale genre.[41] Its mainstream publicity further increased following a stream by Tyler "Ninja" Blevins with Drake, JuJu Smith-Schuster and Travis Scott.[43] which set a Twitch record for concurrent viewership.[44][45] It accumulated a total playerbase of 45 million in January and 3.4 million concurrent players in February. Polygon labeled it "the biggest game of 2018" and "a genuine cultural phenomenon",[46] with "everyone from NFL players to famous actors" playing it,[42] including Red Sox player Xander Bogaerts and Bayern Munich's youth team borrowing celebrations from the game.[47] In Asia, however, PUBG remains the most popular battle royale game.[48]

Other popular battle royale games released in 2017, inspired by the success of PUBG: Battlegrounds, include two NetEase titles, Rules of Survival which was discontinued on 2022 July and the mobile game Knives Out, and the mobile game Free Fire by Garena which has over 150 Million daily active players as of 2021.[49] Each of these games has received hundreds of millions of downloads, mostly in Asia, by 2018.[50][51][52]

Mainstream popularity (2018–present)

With the success of Battlegrounds and Fortnite, the battle royale genre expanded greatly. Major publishers,[53] including Electronic Arts[54] Activision,[55] and Ubisoft[56] acknowledged the impact of the growing genre on their future plans and on the industry as a whole. Activision's Call of Duty series features a battle royale mode titled Blackout in its 2018 installment, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4,[57] as does EA's Battlefield V.[58] Other established games added battle royale-inspired game modes in updates, such as Grand Theft Auto Online,[59] Paladins,[60] Dota 2,[61] Battlerite,[62] and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[63] In February 2019, EA released the free-to-play Apex Legends, which exceeded 50 million player accounts within a month.[64] The second main battle royale installment in the Call of Duty franchise, titled Call of Duty: Warzone, was released in March 2020, as a part of the Call of Duty: Modern Warfare video game but does not require purchase of it;[65] the game reached more than 50 million players in its first month of release.[66]

The battle royale approach has also been used in games from genres not normally associated with shooter games. Tetris 99 is a 2019 game released by Nintendo for the Nintendo Switch that has 99 players simultaneously competing in a game of Tetris. Players can direct "attacks" on other players for each line they complete, attempting to remain the last player standing.[67] Tetris 99 served as a template for the Switch games Super Mario Bros. 35, Pac-Man 99,[68] and F-Zero 99. Blizzard Entertainment added a battle royale-inspired "Battlegrounds" mode to its digital card game Hearthstone, where eight players vie to win over the others through several rounds of drafting new cards and fighting in one-on-one events.[69] The racing game Forza Horizon 4 from Playground Games added a battle royale mode called "The Eliminator" where players all start with the same car, but can gain upgrades by beating other players and discovering "drops" around the map;[70] Microsoft stated in 2021 that it was the most popular multiplayer mode in the game.[71] Babble Royale is a game developed by Frank Lantz that uses Scrabble as a basis for a word-based battle royale game.[72]

As of December 2019 dozens of battle royale games have debuted but, similar to the MOBA genre, only two or three titles have maintained mainstream popularity at the same time. Other games and battle royale modes had briefly become popular before their concurrent player count dropped and players returned to Fortnite or Battlegrounds; Apex Legends was the year's only new successful battle royale game.[53] In contrast to other multiplayer-only games, the large number of players typically involved in battle royale games generally require a large enough concurrent player base for matchmaking in a reasonable amount of time. The Culling, by Xaviant Studios, was released in early access in 2016, and was designed to be a streaming-friendly battle royale mode for 16 players.[73] However, following the release of Battlegrounds, The Culling lost much of its player base, and a few months after releasing the full version of the game, Xaviant announced they were ending further development on it to move onto other projects.[74] Radical Heights by Boss Key Productions was launched in April 2018 but within two weeks had lost 80% of its player base.[75] SOS, a battle royale game released by Outpost Games in December 2017, had its player counts drop into the double-digits by May 2018, leading Outpost to announce the game's closure by November 2018.[76] While several major battle royale announcements occurred at E3 in 2018, only Fallout 76's battle royale mode appeared at the trade show in 2019.[53]

The Chinese government, through its Audio and Video and Numeral Publishing Association, stated in October 2017 that it will discourage its citizens from playing battle royale games as they deem them too violent, which "deviates from the values of socialism and is deemed harmful to young consumers", as translated by Bloomberg.[77] Gaming publications in the west speculated that this would make it difficult or impossible to publish battle royale within the country.[78] In November 2017, PUBG Corporation announced its partnership with Tencent to publish the game in China, making some changes in the game to "make sure they accord with socialist core values, Chinese traditional culture and moral rules" to satisfy Chinese regulations and censors.[79][80][81] However, during mid-2018, the Chinese government revamped how it reviewed and classified games that are to be published in China, and by December 2018, after the formation of the new Online Ethics Review Committee, several battle royale titles, including Fortnite and PUBG, were listed as prohibited or must be withdrawn from play.[82] While PUBG Corporation was working with Tencent on a Chinese release, many clones of Battlegrounds were released in China, and created a new genre called "chicken-eating game", named based on the congratulatory line to the last player standing in Battlegrounds, "Winner Winner Chicken Dinner!"[83]

Impact

The rapid growth and success of the battle royale genre has been attributed to several factors, including the way all players start in the same vulnerable state and eliminating any intrinsic advantage for players, and being well-suited for being a spectator esport.[84] Other factors including specific games' business models, such as Fortnite Battle Royale being free and available across computers, consoles, and mobile devices.[85] A University of Utah professor also considers that battle royale games realize elements of Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs, a scheme to describe human motivation, more-so than video games have in the past. While the lowest tiers of Maslow's hierarchy, physiological and safety, are met by the survival elements of battle royales, the love/belonging and esteem tiers are a result of the battle royale being necessarily a social and competitive game, and the final tier of self-actualization comes from becoming skilled in the game to win frequently.[84]

Business Insider projected that battle royale games would bring in over $2 billion during 2018 alone, and would generate a total of $20 billion by the end of 2019.[86] SuperData Research reported that, in 2018, the three top-grossing battle royale games (Fortnite, PUBG and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4) generated nearly $4 billion in combined digital revenue that year.[87] SuperData Research reported that the top four highest-grossing battle royale games of 2020 (PUBG Mobile, Garena Free Fire, Call of Duty: Warzone and Fortnite) generated more than $7 billion worldwide in combined digital revenue that year.[88] Fortnite grossed over $9 billion worldwide by 2019,[89] while PUBG Mobile grossed over $8 billion by early 2022.[90]

Sensor Tower reported that 2018's top three most-downloaded mobile battle royale games (PUBG Mobile, Garena Free Fire and Fortnite) received over 500 million downloads combined that year.[52] As of 2020, the most-played battle royale games include PUBG Mobile with 600 million players,[91] Fortnite with 350 million players,[92] NetEase's mobile game Knives Out with over 250 million players,[51] Rules of Survival with 230 million players,[50] and Garena Free Fire with over 180 million players.[52]

Turtle Beach Corporation, a manufacturer of headphones and microphones for gaming, reported an increase of over 200% in net revenues for the second quarter of 2018 over the same quarter in 2017, which they attributed to the popularity of the battle royale genre.[93]

In a 2022 study conducted on Japanese students who regularly play online games, battle royale gameplay was shown to have statistically significant correlations with gaming addiction and a sense of underachievement. The study also suggested that the battle royale genre requires more attention than other esports genres, particularly in terms of its link with aggressive feelings.[94]

See also

References

  1. ^ Brown, Fraser (September 15, 2017). "The best battle royale games, modes and mods". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 15, 2017. Retrieved September 15, 2017.
  2. ^ Hall, Charlie (December 7, 2017). "Fortnite: Battle Royale gets a new 50-versus-50 team mode". Polygon. Archived from the original on December 13, 2017. Retrieved December 12, 2017.
  3. ^ Hagton, Ian (October 17, 2017). "Remembering Dyna Blaster, the first Battle Royale game I played". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on July 4, 2019. Retrieved November 18, 2018.
  4. ^ Saed, Sherif (April 10, 2017). "Battle royale: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, King of the Kill and the new genre of shooter". VG247. Archived from the original on June 8, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  5. ^ a b Livingston, Christopher (February 28, 2017). "Playerunknown's Battlegrounds could have a bright future in the battle royale genre he created". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on June 17, 2017. Retrieved June 9, 2017.
  6. ^ a b "How "Battle Royale" Took Over Video Games". The New Yorker. January 17, 2023.
  7. ^ a b Zavarise, Giada (December 6, 2018). "How Battle Royale went from a manga to a Fortnite game mode". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  8. ^ a b "Jeu vidéo : l'antique " Bomberman " a-t-il inspiré les phénomènes " PUBG " et " Fortnite " ?". Le Monde (in French). April 25, 2018. Retrieved February 18, 2019.
  9. ^ "'Gun Gale Online' Reveals Direct Tie-In To 'Sword Art Online'". ComicBook.com. April 24, 2018. Retrieved April 16, 2019.
  10. ^ Wehner, Mike (May 15, 2012). "Minecraft Hunger Games exists, and it's just as amazing as you're imagining". Yahoo! News. Archived from the original on September 24, 2017. Retrieved September 24, 2017.
  11. ^ Fillari, Alessandro (May 26, 2018). "Battle Royale Games Explained". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 26, 2018. Retrieved May 26, 2018.
  12. ^ The Big Book of Minecraft. Triumph Books. 2014. p. 70. ISBN 978-1-62937-028-6.
  13. ^ a b Hall, Charlie (September 22, 2017). "PUBG and Fortnite's argument raises the question: Can you own a genre?". Polygon. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  14. ^ Greene, Brendan (February 15, 2017). "INVEN Game Conference Talk". Playerunknown's Battlegrounds. Archived from the original on June 10, 2017. Retrieved June 8, 2017.
  15. ^ Chalk, Andy (July 24, 2015). "Ark: Survival Evolved gets a "Survival of the Fittest" tournament mode". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  16. ^ O'Conner, Alice (August 2, 2016). "Mod Me Up! Ark: Survival Of The Fittest No Longer F2P". Rock Paper Shotgun. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  17. ^ Titsoff, Ader (April 5, 2017). "Btooom! Won't Get a 2nd Season as Mobile Game Flops". GoBoiano. Archived from the original on July 30, 2018. Retrieved February 23, 2018.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  18. ^ Christopher Livingston (September 12, 2017). "King of the Kill devs talk about PUBG: "We just sort of try to ignore any comparison"". PC Gamer. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  19. ^ "Fans Won't Stop Playing One Of Steam's Most Popular Games, Even Though They Claim To Hate It". Kotaku Australia. March 30, 2017. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  20. ^ "H1Z1 Loses 91% of Player Base Right Before eSports League Launch". Game Rant. February 26, 2018. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  21. ^ Hall, Charlie (February 20, 2018). "H1Z1 struggling to keep players in the face of competition". Polygon. Retrieved December 19, 2021.
  22. ^ Tassi, Paul (September 22, 2017). "'PUBG' Developer Unironically Calls Out 'Fortnite' For Copying Its Battle Royale Format". Forbes. Archived from the original on October 15, 2017.
  23. ^ Winkie, Luke (April 7, 2017). "Meet Brendan 'Playerunknown' Greene, Creator of the Twitch Hit 'Battlegrounds'". Rolling Stone. Archived from the original on July 30, 2017.
  24. ^ Pereira, Chris (November 7, 2017). "PUBG Reaches A Big Sales Milestone As Creator Promises "Change Is Coming"". GameSpot. Retrieved November 7, 2017.
  25. ^ Minotii, Mike (December 15, 2017). "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds sells 1 million Xbox One copies in 3 days". Venture Beat. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  26. ^ Saed, Sharif (April 10, 2017). "Battle royale: PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, King of the Kill and the new genre of shooter". VG247. Archived from the original on August 2, 2017. Retrieved July 27, 2017.
  27. ^ "How Battle Royale is changing online gaming". Plarium. Archived from the original on February 28, 2018. Retrieved February 27, 2018.
  28. ^ Sapieha, Chad (December 14, 2017). "The year in games: Five news stories and trends that dominated the industry in 2017". National Post. Archived from the original on December 15, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  29. ^ Graft, Kris (December 18, 2017). "5 trends that defined the game industry in 2017". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on December 22, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  30. ^ a b Livingston, Christopher (September 23, 2017). "PUBG exec clarifies objection to Fortnite Battle Royale: 'it's not about the idea itself, it's about Epic Games'". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 23, 2017.
  31. ^ Hood, Vic (September 12, 2017). "Battle Royale coming to Fortnite in September". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on September 12, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  32. ^ Hood, Vic (September 20, 2017). "PUBG-inspired Fortnite Battle Royale will launch as a free standalone game". Eurogamer. Archived from the original on September 21, 2017. Retrieved September 20, 2017.
  33. ^ Makuch, Eddie (November 7, 2017). "Fortnite Passes 20 Million Players, Big New Patch Announced". GameSpot. Archived from the original on November 8, 2017. Retrieved November 8, 2017.
  34. ^ Skipper, Ben (September 22, 2017). "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds team issues threat over 'carbon copy' battle royale mode in Epic Games' Fortnite". International Business Times. Archived from the original on September 22, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  35. ^ "Fortnite sued for 'copying' rival game". BBC News. May 29, 2018. Archived from the original on May 31, 2018.
  36. ^ Nakamura, Yuji; Kim, Sam (May 29, 2018). "Most Popular Game on the Planet Accused of Copyright Violation". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on May 30, 2018. Retrieved May 29, 2018.
  37. ^ "Can PUBG win legal battle against Epic Games?". Korea Times. June 8, 2018. Archived from the original on July 6, 2018.
  38. ^ Kim, Sam (June 26, 2018). "Copyright Lawsuit Dropped Against Fortnite Creators, Ending Legal Battle". Bloomberg L.P. Archived from the original on June 27, 2018. Retrieved June 27, 2018.
  39. ^ Liao, Shannon (December 18, 2018). "PUBG mobile has as many players as Fortnite". The Verge. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  40. ^ Jones, Ali (March 22, 2018). "Fortnite made $126m in February, making more than PUBG for the first time". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 22, 2018.
  41. ^ a b Statt, Nick (March 23, 2018). "PUBG creator says it's great Fortnite is growing the battle royale genre". The Verge. Archived from the original on March 23, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  42. ^ a b Andronico, Michael (April 6, 2018). "Why Is Fortnite So Damn Popular — and Will It Last?". Tom's Guide. Archived from the original on April 11, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  43. ^ Brian, Matt (March 17, 2018). "The rise and rise (and rise) of 'Fortnite'". Engadget. Archived from the original on March 24, 2018. Retrieved March 23, 2018.
  44. ^ Patrick Gill, Christopher Grant, Ross Miller, and Julia Alexander (March 15, 2018). "Drake sets records with his Fortnite: Battle Royale Twitch debut". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 15, 2018. Retrieved March 19, 2018.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  45. ^ Kuchera, Ben (March 20, 2018). "From Drake to porn, everyone wants a piece of Fortnite". Polygon. Archived from the original on March 20, 2018. Retrieved March 20, 2018.
  46. ^ Campbell, Colin (March 30, 2018). "Why is Fortnite Battle Royale so wildly popular?". Polygon. Archived from the original on April 8, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  47. ^ Schwartz, Nick (March 31, 2018). "Fortnite is taking over the sports world". USA Today. Archived from the original on April 12, 2018. Retrieved April 11, 2018.
  48. ^ Camarao, Dan (December 27, 2019). "Move Over Fortnite, Asian Gamers Know Why PUBG Is Better". Vice. Retrieved May 24, 2020.
  49. ^ Obedkov, Evgeny (August 17, 2021). "Mobile battle royale Free Fire surpasses 150 million peak daily active players". Game World Observer. Retrieved November 11, 2022.
  50. ^ a b "Rules of Survival". NetEase. Archived from the original on October 30, 2018. Retrieved April 15, 2019.
  51. ^ a b "NetEase Games' Knives Out battlefield is spreading to PlayStation 4". Gamasutra. September 11, 2018. Archived from the original on October 26, 2018. Retrieved October 28, 2018.
  52. ^ a b c "Q4 and Full Year 2018: Store Intelligence Data Digest" (PDF). Sensor Tower. January 16, 2019. Archived (PDF) from the original on February 10, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  53. ^ a b c Livingston, Christopher (December 11, 2019). "How battle royale changed the last decade of games (and the next one)". PC Gamer. Retrieved January 4, 2020.
  54. ^ Makuch, Eddie (January 30, 2018). "EA Responds To PUBG's Massive Success, Teases "New And Innovative" Modes For Its Own Games". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  55. ^ Fogel, Stefanie (May 4, 2018). "Activision Blizzard Not Worried About 'Fortnite' Competition". Variety. Archived from the original on May 17, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  56. ^ Makuch, Eddie (May 17, 2018). "Ubisoft Responds To Fortnite's Massive Popularity, Teases It May Follow The Trend". GameSpot. Archived from the original on May 18, 2018. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  57. ^ Knezevic, Kevin (May 17, 2018). "Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 Has A Battle Royale Mode". GameSpot. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  58. ^ Makuch, Eddie (June 11, 2018). "Battlefield 5 Battle Royale Mode: DICE Discusses How It Happened". GameSpot. Archived from the original on June 10, 2018. Retrieved June 11, 2018.
  59. ^ Chalk, Andy (August 29, 2017). "GTA Online gets a PUBG-style Battle Royale mode in the Smuggler's Run update". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on September 13, 2017. Retrieved September 12, 2017.
  60. ^ Donnelly, Joe (January 5, 2018). "Hi-Rez president explains why 'Battlegrounds' name was chosen for Paladins' new mode". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on January 5, 2018. Retrieved January 5, 2018.
  61. ^ Stewart, Sam (May 8, 2018). "Dota 2 Is Getting a Battle Royale Game Mode". IGN. Archived from the original on May 9, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  62. ^ Wood, Austin (May 3, 2018). "MOBA brawler Battlerite is getting a battle royale mode". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on May 10, 2018. Retrieved May 9, 2018.
  63. ^ Valentine, Rebekah (December 6, 2018). "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive goes free-to-play". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  64. ^ Tailby, Stephen (March 4, 2019). "Apex Legends Reaches 50 Million Players In Its First Month". Push Square. Archived from the original on March 4, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
  65. ^ "Call of Duty: Warzone confirmed as a standalone, free-to-play battle royale". PCGamesN. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  66. ^ McWhertor, Michael (April 10, 2020). "Call of Duty: Warzone hits 50M players in first month". Polygon. Retrieved April 21, 2020.
  67. ^ Alexander, Julia (February 13, 2019). "Tetris is now a battle royale game with Tetris 99". The Verge. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  68. ^ Mackovich, Sam (April 7, 2021). "99 Pac-Men enter, one Pac-Man leaves in new Switch freebie Pac-Man 99". Ars Technica. Retrieved April 15, 2021.
  69. ^ Francis, Bryant (November 11, 2019). "Why the Hearthstone devs wanted to make an auto battler". Gamasutra. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  70. ^ Wales, Matt (December 11, 2019). "Forza Horizon 4 is getting a battle royale mode called The Eliminator". Eurogamer. Retrieved December 11, 2019.
  71. ^ Carey, Sean (November 9, 2021). "Forza Horizon 5 devs talk multiplayer, social gaming, and how to win The Eliminator". TrueAchievements. Retrieved November 14, 2021.
  72. ^ Carpenter, Nicole (December 16, 2021). "A battle royale where you fight to the death with words, not bullets". Polygon. Retrieved December 18, 2021.
  73. ^ Couture, Joel (April 13, 2016). "Making a battle royale for players and viewers alike in The Culling". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on September 23, 2017. Retrieved September 22, 2017.
  74. ^ Chalk, Andy (December 18, 2017). "Development of The Culling has come to a halt". PC Gamer. Archived from the original on December 19, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  75. ^ Glagowski, Peter (April 28, 2018). "Radical Heights seems to be hemorrhaging players". Destructoid. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  76. ^ Chalk, Andy (October 12, 2018). "SOS, the battle royale you can win with your voice, is closing in November". PC Gamer. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  77. ^ Chen, Lulu Yilun (October 29, 2017). "World's Hottest PC Game Could Get Locked Out of China". Bloomberg Businessweek. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved October 31, 2017.
  78. ^ Jones, Ali (October 30, 2017). "The Chinese government is discouraging the development of battle royale games". PCGamesN. Archived from the original on October 30, 2017. Retrieved October 30, 2017.
  79. ^ Handrahan, Matthew (November 22, 2017). "Tencent to publish PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds in China". GamesIndustry.biz. Archived from the original on December 1, 2017. Retrieved November 22, 2017.
  80. ^ Lemon, Marshall (November 22, 2017), "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds has been approved in China, with a few changes", VG247, archived from the original on November 22, 2017, retrieved November 22, 2017
  81. ^ "Tencent to bring world's hottest video game to China, promises socialist values". Reuters. November 22, 2017. Archived from the original on December 16, 2017. Retrieved December 15, 2017.
  82. ^ Jones, Ali (December 11, 2018). "Fortnite, PUBG, and Paladins have reportedly been banned by the Chinese government". PCGamesN. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  83. ^ Wawro, Alex (November 28, 2017). "Inside the PUBG-fueled rise of 'chicken eating games' in China". Gamasutra. Archived from the original on December 27, 2017. Retrieved December 18, 2017.
  84. ^ a b Melrose, Carter (June 14, 2018). "WHY BATTLE ROYALE GAMES LIKE FORTNITE ARE EVERYWHERE (IT'S NOT JUST MONEY)". Wired. Archived from the original on June 15, 2018. Retrieved June 14, 2018.
  85. ^ Paumgarten, Nick (May 15, 2018). "How Fortnite Captured Teens' Hearts and Minds". The New Yorker. Archived from the original on May 15, 2018. Retrieved May 15, 2018.
  86. ^ Wade, Jessie (July 20, 2018). "Analysts Predict Battle Royale Games Could Make $20 Billion Next Year". IGN. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  87. ^ "Market Brief – 2018 Digital Games & Interactive Entertainment Industry Year In Review". SuperData Research. Archived from the original on January 21, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  88. ^ "Games and interactive media earnings rose 12% to $139.9B in 2020". SuperData Research. Nielsen Company. January 6, 2021. Archived from the original on January 6, 2021. Retrieved January 6, 2021.
  89. ^ Clark, Mitchell (May 3, 2021). "Fortnite made more than $9 billion in revenue in its first two years". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 3, 2021. Retrieved May 3, 2021.
  90. ^ "PUBG Mobile Shoots Past $8 Billion in Lifetime Revenue". Sensor Tower. May 2022. Retrieved May 15, 2022.
  91. ^ "PUBG Mobile Gets 600 Million Downloads". IGN. December 3, 2019. Retrieved March 20, 2020.
  92. ^ Statt, Nick (May 6, 2020). "Fortnite is now one of the biggest games ever with 350 million players". The Verge. Archived from the original on May 6, 2020. Retrieved May 6, 2020.
  93. ^ McAloon, Alissa (August 7, 2018). "The battle royale boom helped Turtle Beach achieve a record quarter". Gamasutra. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
  94. ^ Ohno, Shiroh (2022). "The Link Between Battle Royale Games and Aggressive Feelings, Addiction, and Sense of Underachievement: Exploring eSports-Related Genres". International Journal of Mental Health and Addiction. 20 (3): 1873–1881. doi:10.1007/s11469-021-00488-0. ISSN 1557-1874. S2CID 231670120.