Battle Royale
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Documents about Battle Royale
2019 Predictions #9: Say Hello to the New Breed of Battle Royale Games
The Battle Royale genre underwent a period of explosive expansion throughout 2018, fundamentally altering the mobile mid-core market and compelling established publishers to overhaul their development strategies.
- Success in the Battle Royale genre requires a massive, multi-platform launch strategy, as evidenced by Apex Legends reaching 1 million concurrent players in 8 hours and 10 million players within three days.
- Traditional publishers are increasingly forced to integrate Battle Royale modes into existing franchises to maintain performance, with EA specifically citing the lack of such a mode as a factor in its lower-than-expected financial results.
- Effective monetization in the genre relies on a combination of battle passes, cosmetic-focused loot boxes, and item shops to balance profit maximization with player retention.
February Feature Updates: 2019
The February 2019 feature update provides an overview of new analytical classifications added to the GameRefinery service, specifically focusing on emerging game modes and thematic elements within the mobile gaming market.
- GameRefinery has updated its tracking service to include specific classifications for Battle Royale and MOBA modes, allowing for the identification of these mechanics even in games where they are secondary features rather than the core genre.
- The Battle Royale classification now tracks games featuring survival and last-man-standing mechanics, including both dedicated titles like PUBG Mobile and games with integrated modes like Brawl Stars' 'Showdown'.
- The MOBA classification identifies games that feature arena-based team combat with base-destruction objectives, such as the MMORPG Goddess: Primal Chaos, which incorporates MOBA-style gameplay as a secondary mode.
Battle Royale in NBA & Star Wars: 6 Exciting Ways to Implement a Battle Royale Mode
The rapid rise of the battle royale genre in 2018 demonstrated that its core mechanics—survival, shrinking play areas, and last-player-standing competition—are not limited to traditional shooters.
- Battle Royale mechanics are increasingly being adapted for non-shooter genres, proving the mode is not exclusive to FPS or TPS titles.
- Supercell’s Brawl Stars successfully integrated a 'Showdown' mode where players collect health and attack buffs from chests while a shrinking gas cloud forces engagement.
- Tencent’s Honor of Kings added a 100-player 'Breakout' mode that retains core MOBA elements, such as unique character skills and the ability to purchase gear on the fly.
The Top Mobile Game Genres of 2018: Top Grossing Charts
The analysis evaluates the mobile gaming landscape of 2018 by examining the top-grossing genres and their respective monetization effectiveness.
- The four most reliable revenue-generating genres in 2018 were Slots, Match3, Turn-based RPG, and 4X Strategy, each consistently supporting 40–60 titles in the top 500 grossing charts throughout the year.
- Slots, Battle Royale, and MMORPG sub-genres showed steady growth in their number of top-grossing chart positions throughout 2018, while 4X Strategy, Tycoon/Crafting, and Card Battlers experienced a gradual decline.
- Match3 remains the most effective genre for consistent monetization and high chart placement, despite high market competition that requires significant marketing investment and product uniqueness.
Best Mobile Game Genres of 2018: Top Free Games Charts
The mobile gaming landscape in 2018 was defined by significant shifts in genre dominance and market saturation.
- Hypercasual games dominated the 2018 download charts, with over 120 titles consistently appearing in the top rankings each quarter, driven primarily by an ad-revenue business model.
- Hypercasual is the only 'reliable giant' in the download space, maintaining a volume of titles three times larger than the next most competitive category, Other Puzzle.
- Genres such as Battle Royale, Other Arcade, and Word/Trivia represent high-potential opportunities because they drive significant downloads while maintaining lower levels of market competition compared to hypercasual.
Genre Landscape 2018
The 2018 Genre Landscape analysis provides a visual and data-driven overview of the shifting mobile gaming market.
- The mobile gaming market experienced significant shifts between Q1 and Q3 2018, driven primarily by the emergence of the Battle Royale genre.
- Major intellectual properties (IPs) increasingly entered the augmented reality (AR) space during the 2018 period.
- GameRefinery utilized a new genre taxonomy and a proprietary Market Share tool to track and visualize these landscape changes throughout the first three quarters of 2018.
Battlelands Royale: Contender or Pretender?
Futureplay’s Battlelands Royale serves as a case study for the viability of mobile-first Battle Royale games, specifically examining whether a simplified, fast-paced design can compete with industry giants like Fortnite and PUBG.
- Despite achieving nearly 7 million downloads in its first two months of release, Battlelands Royale failed to monetize effectively, earning only $450,000 across iOS and Android.
- The game failed to crack the top 500 grossing apps despite peaking near the top 10 in download rankings, indicating a significant disconnect between user acquisition and long-term retention.
- Futureplay optimized the Battle Royale formula for mobile by reducing match sizes to 32 players and limiting session times to under five minutes to ensure rapid, bite-sized gameplay.
What's the Big Deal with Battle Pass?
The Battle Pass has emerged as a transformative monetization mechanic in the mobile gaming industry, effectively combining time-limited engagement with progression-based rewards.
- The Battle Pass is a hybrid monetization model that combines time-limited seasons with progression-based rewards to drive player engagement and retention through the fear of missing out.
- Following the implementation of a Battle Pass in June 2018, PUBG Mobile saw its revenue increase by 365% and its position in the US iOS top-grossing charts rise into the top 20.
- Battle Pass systems typically feature a two-tier structure—free and premium—which encourages conversion by allowing players to unlock premium rewards retroactively based on their existing progress.
PLAYERUNKNOWN: From Mod Creator to Creative Director of PUBG
Brendan Greene’s trajectory from a photographer and designer to the Creative Director of PUBG illustrates the transformative power of modding culture in modern game development.
- PUBG achieved rapid commercial success by selling 40 million copies and reaching 3 million concurrent players within its first year of release.
- The game’s core mechanics, including the shrinking play zone, originated from Brendan Greene’s iterative development of Battle Royale mods for the Arma series.
- Development prioritized emergent gameplay and community feedback over rigid design documentation, allowing for the integration of unintended features like the bulletproof frying pan.
Fortnite: An Unconventional Launch
Fortnite represents a fundamental shift in game development and distribution, moving away from traditional, long-lead retail cycles toward an agile, community-driven model.
- Epic Games successfully pivoted from a niche, paid early access model to a mainstream cultural phenomenon by developing and launching the free-to-play Battle Royale mode in just two months.
- The transition to an agile, community-driven development model allowed Epic Games to treat the game as an evolving conversation, prioritizing iterative feedback over the traditional, long-lead retail release cycle.
- Marketing strategy shifted away from cinematic trailers toward digital-first campaigns and influencer partnerships, utilizing short video vignettes to maintain consistent player engagement.
Nexon Q1 2018 Earnings Conference Call Transcript
Nexon achieved record-breaking financial results in the first quarter of 2018, with revenue, operating income, and net income all surpassing initial projections.
- Nexon achieved record-breaking Q1 2018 financial results, with revenue, operating income, and net income all exceeding initial projections.
- Growth was primarily driven by the sustained performance of Dungeon&Fighter in China, where high average revenue per paying user compensated for normalized monthly active user counts.
- Nexon is undergoing a strategic transition in the Korean market, shifting from EA SPORTS FIFA Online 3 to FIFA ONLINE 4 to ensure long-term stability around the World Cup.
Predictions for 2018: Mid-Core Games
Mid-core mobile gaming solidified its position as the primary revenue driver for the global industry throughout 2017, accounting for nearly all of the top-grossing titles.
- Midcore games dominate mobile revenue, accounting for 11 of the top 15 highest-grossing games globally in 2016.
- Machine Zone experienced a significant revenue decline in 2017, with Game of War dropping 39% to $387M and Mobile Strike falling 34% to $363M.
- The 4X strategy genre faces challenges as top ten publisher revenues dropped 30% year-on-year, driven by rising user acquisition costs and intense competition.