Battle Royale: A Guide to Battle Royale Video Games

Battle royale video games are multiplayer games that involve a large number of gamers, typically around 100, controlling characters who parachute onto a virtual map, where they will battle until there is only one person left standing. Battle royale games, such as free-to-play games Fortnite, PlayerUnkown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG), and Apex Legends, among others, have risen to widespread popularity over the last few years. These games come in multiple modes, enabling gamers to play solo or squad up in groups of two, three, or four to be the last team alive.

A battle royale game also combines elements of scavenging alongside its survival aesthetic, with the player base starting with minimal equipment, collecting loot, and then trying to eliminate all of the other players while staying inside of an ever-shrinking “safe zone.” As the genre has grown in popularity, games have implemented their own special twists, like the ability to revive teammates, the opportunity to fight for the chance to respawn, or special character abilities.

Battle royale mode is a relatively new development, emerging in only the past few decades. Here’s a brief history of this format and genre.

• Origins of the term: The name “battle royale” can be traced back to the 2000 Japanese cult film Battle Royale, which is based on the Koushun Takami novel of the same name and centers on characters who must fight to the death.
• Emergence of the format: The format for battle royale-style games originated with multiplayer mods—modifications created by fans to alter a game’s function or visuals—to open-world survival games in the early 2010s. Though battle royale games are now mainly associated with first-person shooters (FPS), one of the early mods to gain popularity was Survival Games, which took the survival game of Minecraft and modeled a version in the style of the competition in The Hunger Games, a 2008 young adult novel by Suzanne Collins that was made into a movie in 2012.
• Brendan Greene’s contributions to the genre: Competitive mods were developed for games DayZ and Arma 3 by game designer Brendan Greene, who created the popular stand-alone game PUBG in 2017. Greene’s popular battle royale mod to Z1, a zombie survival game, actually led the developer, Daybreak Company, to create its own. Daybreak’s resulting Z1 Battle Royale was also known as H1Z1 and King of the Kill throughout the development and growth process and is considered the first game in the genre as it is today.
• Rise in popularity: Following the success of Brendan Greene’s 2017 creation of PUBG, the game developers at Epic Games debuted Fortnite: Battle Royale, a competitive mode to accompany its own zombie-survival game, later that same year. Thanks to Fortnite’s free-to-play model and its unique take on the genre (players have the ability to build their own fortifications using materials gathered on the map), the game gained a large following.
• Concurrence with live streaming: The rise of battle royale games follows the trajectory of live online streaming by video game players (referred to as streamers), enabling viewers to watch gameplay in real time. Some streamers have become celebrities in their online communities.
• Recognition as an e-sport: Dozens of battle royale video games have debuted, with many available through distribution services, but only a few have maintained sustained popularity. The games Fortnite and PUBG have found a place in the arena of e-sports, even hosting world championships in their battle royale modes.

As battle royale games become more prevalent, so too has the variety of the arenas looking to crown the last player standing. From fights on the battlefield to tournaments of Tetris, here are six battle royale titles:

1. 1. PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (2017): PUBG drops up to 100 players out of a plane over an island. The plane’s route changes every game and players have control over when they jump out. Players are then charged with landing somewhere on the island, finding weapons, medicine, attachments, clothing, armor, and bags to facilitate their survival as the last character standing. This game pioneered many of the staples for which the genre has come to be known.
2. 2. Fortnite: Battle Royale (2017): Despite being “early access” (and therefore limited in availability) for its first three years, Fortnite is widely regarded as one of the best battle royale games, credited with paving the way for crossplay between platforms (players on consoles, PCs, and even mobile devices can play together and against one another). The game’s massive popularity comes as a spinoff to Fortnite’s co-op survival mode, Save the World, and has since featured collaborations with media companies, as well as in-game concerts. Fortnite’s credits also include creation of the Battle Pass system, which rewards players for ranking up through different levels and tiers.
3. 3. Apex Legends (2019): After its release, Apex reached 50 million players in its first month alone and is credited as an innovator in the genre for its nonverbal ping system, which allows players to communicate without mics to make specific locations and loot. The game was introduced with a mode featuring 20 three-player squads, though it has since expanded to include duo and single-player modes. Apex features 17 playable characters, with the unique limitation that a character may only be selected once within a squad. All characters have unique designs, personalities, and abilities that result in each squad combination having its own playstyle.
4. 4. Tetris 99 (2019): This spin on the battle royale genre allows you to see 98 other gamers simultaneously playing Tetris, a game in which you attempt to fit different shapes together to accumulate points. Built into the game are opportunities to impact other players’ games in an effort to be the last Tetris gamer still playing.
5. 5. Call of Duty: Warzone (2020): On the back of Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (which had a battle royale mode called Blackout), Activision's Warzone is part of Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and is connected to Call of Duty: Black Ops: Cold War, though neither is a required purchase in order to play Warzone. Warzone drops 150 players onto a map, but unlike in other battle royale games, an in-game death does not automatically take you out of gameplay. After being eliminated for the first time, players are instead sent to a prison-like area, where they face each other in one-on-one combat. After a successful battle, the winner returns to the main gameplay while the loser is taken out of play. Warzone is also known for its feature that allows players to purchase and then use custom loadouts, which gives players the chance to use guns and perks from presets created before dropping into the game.
6. 6. Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout (2020): A twist on the classic version of the genre, Fall Guys was developed by Mediatonic and published by Devolver Digital. The game is available on Playstation 4, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Android, Xbox Series X and Series S, Microsoft Windows, and iOS. This game draws inspiration from shows like Wipeout and sees 60 customizable costumed beans battle through a series of obstacle courses and minigames until all but one has fallen.

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