Apex Legendsis a monster.
On February 11, Respawn Entertainment announced the game had surpassed 25 million players and more than two million concurrent. It also continues to dominate Twitch. Streamers playingApexhave averaged a total of over 250,000 viewers over the past 7 days. That’s twice as many asFortnite, and almost ten times more thanPlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
It’s not an exaggeration to sayApexcame from nowhere. While anyone paying attention to Respawn knew the studio had a title planned for 2019, few thought it’d arrive so early in the year. Now, it stands tall as the game everyone must beat, and proves the ‘battle royale’ genre is far from tapped out.
The same, but different
The sudden popularity ofApex Legendsmight seem strange at a glance. The ‘battle royale’ genrehardly lacks for entries, and many of them are extremely popular.Fortnitehas taken the world by storm, of course, but there’s alsoCall of Duty: Blackout,Realm Royale,Unturned,Ring of Elysiumand, of course, the original –PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
That sounds like a lot of games if you believe all ‘battle royale’ games are the same. Of course, they’re not. The games above all fit a niche and with their own unique twist.Realm Royalemay look likeFortnite, but the two games don’t have much in common. The same can be said ofCall of Duty: BlackoutandApex Legends.
If anything – and this is a little terrifying to think about – the battle royale genre islackinggames. The massive popularity of top-tier games has sucked variety from the genre. Games that can’t hit critical mass founder, and even if they don’t fail outright, they aren’t part of the genre’s public image.
Even I started to wonder if it was time to move on. ThenApexarrived.
Yea, there’s a ton of little battle royale projects in early access. Even Cyanide and Happinesshas a battle royale game in the works. Seriously! Yet most of these titles are, for better or worse, off the radar. Many gamers haven’t heard of them, and never will.
Paul Tassi, Senior Contributor at Forbes, expressed a similar concernin an article aboutCall of Duty: Blackouthe wrote in October. “Blackout feels like it’s about to suck the remaining oxygen out of the room when it comes to the Battle Royale trend,” he said, going on to worry it’d be the last game of “any real significance” in the genre.
At the time, it felt as if Tassi’s prediction might become true.FortniteandBlackoutdueled throughout the holiday, whilePUBGmaintained a slipping but stubborn grip. Other battle royale games received little attention as the genre began to slip out of mainstream headlines.
And you thought that was the flood?
Perhaps the bubble had burst. 2019 was a new year. The genre’s founder,PUBG, is fast approaching its two-year anniversary. Even I started to wonder if it was time to move on. MaybeAnthemwould be the next big thing.
ThenApexarrived. It immediately tapped into a fat vein of excitement by offering an alternative option at the low, low price of free. Mixing the pseudo-realistic grit ofCall of Dutywith hero-shooter mechanics likeOverwatch,Apexgave gamers a new twist to enjoy. Players flocked to it not just because it’s great (the best battle royale yet, if you ask me), but also because it’s different.
The success ofApexshocked everyone, from gamers to stock market investors who, having abandoned Electronic Arts just days before, suddenly came rushing back to scream “take my money!” Suddenly, the battle royale genre seems to have plenty of oxygen. An excess of oxygen. So much, in fact, that the genre is again blazing red-hot.
But the implications are much deeper than that. In a day, Respawn Entertainment took the table on gaming’s 2019 release schedule.Anthem?The Division 2?Seikiro?Days Gone? They’ll be popular, I’m sure, but there’s zero chance they’ll leap the hurdle set byApex Legends. We’re already playing the biggest game of the year, and we didn’t even know to anticipate it.
Look for more surprises
There’s a risk, of course, thatApexhas completed what Tassi thoughtCall of Duty: Blackoutwould manage. Respawn Entertainment is alreadygearing up for regular content dropsto keep the game alive, and it’ll be serious competition for anyone else looking to enter the battle royale genre with a copycat release.
Luckily, there’s no big copycats on the schedule aside fromBattlefield V’s Firestorm, which likely won’t gain traction given the base game’s struggles. There’s room for more surprises in the battle royale genre this year. MaybeUbisoft’sSkull & Boneswill shock us with a 50-player mosh pit galleons and frigates. Or – more likely – the next big game come from project no one has heard of yet.
You thought 2018 was the year of battle royale? Pffft. The genre is just getting started.
