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Battle royale game

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A battle royale game is an online multiplayer video game genre that combines survival, exploration, and scavenging (collecting useful items) in a game where only one can remain, also known as a last-man-standing game. Battle royale games usually have a large number of players, ranging from tens to hundreds. They start with almost nothing and then try to defeat all other enemies/players while trying to stay inside of a play zone or "safe area" that gets smaller over time. The winner is the last player or team alive. The name for the genre is taken from the 2000 Japanese movie Battle Royale.

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 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, Fortnite Battle Royale and Apex Legends each having received tens of millions of players within months of their release.

Concept

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Battle royale games are played between a lot of single players, pairs of two players or a number of small teams (usually 3-5 players). The goal is to be the last player or team standing by defeating all other enemies. It starts by placing the player-characters into a large map, typically by having all players skydive from a large aircraft within a short time limit. The map may have the players randomly placed or allow players to have some control over where they start. They start with very little equipment, giving no player an obvious advantage at the start. Equipment, usually used for fighting, survival or transport, is randomly placed 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 trying to avoid being killed by other players, who cannot be visually marked or revealed either on-screen or on the map, making the player use only their own eyes and ears to find their positions. Equipment from defeated players can usually be taken as well. These games often include some way to push enemies closer together as the game progresses, usually taking the form of a safe zone that slowly gets smaller, with players outside the zone eventually being killed.

Normally, battle royale players are only given one life to play; any players who die are not allowed to respawn. Games with team support may allow players to enter a temporary, near-death state once health is depleted, giving allies the opportunity to revive them before they give out or are finished off by an enemy. The match is over when only one player or team is left, and the game usually 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 lets 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 used as part of one of many game modes within a larger game, or may be used as a user-created mod created for another game.[1]

There are many changes that can be placed on top of the fundamentals of 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 get resources and weapons towards making a safe building as the safe area of the game shrinks down, with the goal to defeat all the players on the other team.[2]

History

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Mainstream popularity (2018–present)

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With the success of Battlegrounds and Fortnite, the battle royale genre expanded greatly. Major publishers, including Electronic Arts[3] Activision,[4] and Ubisoft[5] noticed the impact of the growing genre and impact on their future plans. Activision's Call of Duty series features a battle royale mode called "Blackout" in its 2018 game, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4,[6] while EA's Battlefield V also includes a battle royale mode.[7] Some other established games added battle royale-inspired gamemodes in updates, such as Grand Theft Auto Online,[8] Paladins,[9] Dota 2,[10] Battlerite,[11] and Counter-Strike: Global Offensive.[12] In February 2019, EA released a free-to-play battle royale game called Apex Legends, which had more than 50 million player accounts within a month of its release.[13]

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 in a game of Tetris at the same time. Players can direct "attacks" on other players for each line they complete, attempting to become the last player standing.[14] While there have been several successful battle royale games, the genre has seen a number of games have bursts of popularity before their player count drops. In contrast to other multiplayer-only games, the large number of players typically involved in battle royale games needs enough players at the same 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.[15] However, following the release of Battlegrounds, The Culling lost much of its player base. Xaviant announced they were ending further development on it to move onto other projects.[16] Radical Heights by Boss Key Productions was launched in April 2018 but within two weeks had lost 80% of its player base.[17] SOS, a battle royale game released by Outpost Games in December 2017, had its player counts drop by May 2018. Outpost announced the game's closure by November 2018.[18]

The Chinese government, through its Audio and Video and Numeral Publishing Association, said in October 2017 that it will discourage its citizens from playing battle royale games as they are too violent, which "deviates from the values of socialism and is deemed harmful to young consumers".[19] Gaming journals in the west speculated that this would make it hard to publish battle royale within the country.[20] In November 2017, PUBG Corporation announced its partnership with Tencent to make their game available 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.[21][22][23] In 2018, the Chinese government changed how it reviewed and classified games published in China, and after the formation of the new Online Ethics Review Committee, several battle royale titles, including Fortnite and PUBG, were listed as illegal or must be withdrawn from play.[24] A large number of clones of Battlegrounds have come out in China, and created a new genre there called "chicken-eating game", based on the winning line to the last player standing in Battlegrounds, "Winner winner chicken dinner!"[25]

Impact

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The success of the battle royale genre has been attributed to many factors, including the way all players start weak and removing any obvious advantage for players, and being well-suited for being a spectator eSport.[26] Other factors are specific games' business models, such as Fortnite Battle Royale being free and available across computers, consoles, and mobile devices.[27] 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 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 a social and competitive game, and the final tier of self-actualization comes from becoming skilled in the game to win more.[26]

Business Insider said that battle royale games will bring in over $2 billion during 2018, and would grow to $20 billion in 2019.[28] SuperData Research reported that the three top-grossing battle royale games (Fortnite, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4) generated nearly $4 billion in combined digital revenue.[29] Sensor Tower reported that the top three most-downloaded mobile battle royale games (PUBG Mobile, Garena Free Fire and Fortnite) received over 500 million downloads combined that year.[30] The most-played battle royale games include PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds with over 400 million players,[31] NetEase's mobile game Knives Out with over 250 million players,[32] Fortnite Battle Royale with nearly 250 million players,[33] Rules of Survival with 230 million players,[34] and Garena Free Fire with over 180 million players.[30]

Turtle Beach Corporation, a manufacturer of headphones and microphones for gaming, reported an increase of over 200% in total revenues for the second season of 2018 over the same season in 2017, which they attributed to the popularity of the battle royale genre.[35]

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References

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  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. ↑ 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.
  4. ↑ 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.
  5. ↑ 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.
  6. ↑ Knezevic, Kevin (May 17, 2018). "Call Of Duty: Black Ops 4 Has A Battle Royale Mode". GameSpot. Retrieved May 17, 2018.
  7. ↑ 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.
  8. ↑ 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.
  9. ↑ 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.
  10. ↑ 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.
  11. ↑ 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.
  12. ↑ Valentine, Rebekah (December 6, 2018). "Counter-Strike: Global Offensive goes free-to-play". GamesIndustry.biz. Retrieved December 6, 2018.
  13. ↑ 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.
  14. ↑ Alexander, Julia (February 13, 2019). "Tetris is now a battle royale game with Tetris 99". The Verge. Retrieved February 13, 2019.
  15. ↑ 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.
  16. ↑ 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.
  17. ↑ Glagowski, Peter (April 28, 2018). "Radical Heights seems to be hemorrhaging players". Destructoid. Archived from the original on April 24, 2019. Retrieved October 12, 2018.
  18. ↑ 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.
  19. ↑ 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.
  20. ↑ 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.
  21. ↑ 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.
  22. ↑ 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
  23. ↑ "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.
  24. ↑ Jones, Ali (December 11, 2018). "Fortnite, PUBG, and Paladins have reportedly been banned by the Chinese government". PCGamesN. Retrieved December 11, 2018.
  25. ↑ 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.
  26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 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.
  27. ↑ 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.
  28. ↑ Wade, Jessie (July 20, 2018). "Analysts Predict Battle Royale Games Could Make $20 Billion Next Year". IGN. Retrieved July 20, 2018.
  29. ↑ "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.
  30. ↑ 30.0 30.1 "Q4 and Full Year 2018: Store Intelligence Data Digest" (PDF). Sensor Tower. January 16, 2019. Retrieved January 19, 2019.
  31. ↑ McWhertor, Michael (June 19, 2018). "PUBG reaches 50M copies sold, 400M". Polygon. Archived from the original on June 19, 2018. Retrieved June 19, 2018.
  32. ↑ "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.
  33. ↑ Conditt, Jessica (March 20, 2019). "Epic Games has 250 million 'Fortnite' players and a lot of plans". Engadget. Retrieved March 20, 2019.
  34. ↑ "Rules of Survival". NetEase. Archived from the original on October 30, 2018. Retrieved 2019-04-15.
  35. ↑ McAloon, Alissa (August 7, 2018). "The battle royale boom helped Turtle Beach achieve a record quarter". Gamasutra. Retrieved August 7, 2018.
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