Have Battle Royale games saturated the Gaming Market?

Wintertime

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With the increase of battle royale games, do you guys think it has saturated the market? Don't get me wrong, games like Fortnite and Apex Legends aren't bad by nature, but the scope of Battle Royale has pushed developers to introduce the game mode to stay relevant. I used to play this game called Battlerite, it's a fun MOBA-like game with a focus on competitive matchmaking. They recently made their Battlerite Royale mode a free commodity, and I feel like the introduction of a Battle Royale genre in a MOBA game is very weird, and the wrong direction for the game.

Do you guys have any similar experiences?
 

Erroneous

[Blissful Indolence]
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I'd agree that BR games/modes really have saturated the market in the past 2 years or so. It seems like every FPS now has a BR mode and there've been a countless number of games (successful or not) modeled after PUBG. In all reality, it's just the newest fad and will go away in due time, to be replaced by something else.

In all honesty, I think the big Twitch streamers have a say in what's going to be popular, or at least, help grow a games popularity immensely.
 

Ddraig

<First Dragon of SHF> <Pokemon Goddess of NuF>
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More of developers pushing for multiplayer games which are super ez to completely booby trap with microtransactions or worse. And br games are simple,fun and casual so even people who dont play games know about them which in turns helps a lot with popularity. Now this makes every company rush for the same formulae in attempts to milk this cash cow and we have oversaturation... Lets just wait for this to die
 

Lukha

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I agree with Erroneous; I mean it's pretty much a fad that'll come and go as time passes, but there'll always be that playerbase who are diehard Battle Royale fans. It's nice to have variety though, but I was always a PUBG fan over Fortnite and I've played various other BR-styled games that have interesting aspects to differentiate itself in the genre. Haven't played Apex Legends yet, but I've seen the hype. Honestly, it looks nice and I'll probably kill a few hours checking it out, but they're only so fun for so long unless you've got friends and people to play with.

I don't play many MOBAs, but I think it's not super detrimental for a game to try to branch out to stay relevant as long as they're still sticking true to their original game's playstyle and purpose. From a business perspective, why not add a nice little BR mode for those who do enjoy it? I feel that with so many games saturating a market, developers definitely have differentiate themselves and also be more versatile in its gameplay and ability to hook players.
 

Wintertime

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I agree with Erroneous; I mean it's pretty much a fad that'll come and go as time passes, but there'll always be that player base who are diehard Battle Royale fans. It's nice to have variety though, but I was always a PUBG fan over Fortnite and I've played various other BR-styled games that have interesting aspects to differentiate itself in the genre. Haven't played Apex Legends yet, but I've seen the hype. Honestly, it looks nice and I'll probably kill a few hours checking it out, but they're only so fun for so long unless you've got friends and people to play with.

I don't play many MOBAs, but I think it's not super detrimental for a game to try to branch out to stay relevant as long as they're still sticking true to their original game's playstyle and purpose. From a business perspective, why not add a nice little BR mode for those who do enjoy it? I feel that with so many games saturating a market, developers definitely have differentiated themselves and also be more versatile in its gameplay and ability to hook players.

Yea, I definitely share the same view with you and Erroneous. The fad doesn't seem to be dying out anytime soon though, which is unfortunate because that prevents developers to push out original content if they can just trap you with a Battle Royale title, which is unlucky.

My only qualms about the Battlerite Royale is that the core game stems from a MOBA genre, which means there are clear counter matchups for specific heroes. This means there is going to be a tier list on which is the best composition.

Instead of being a 3v3 or a 5v5, it's a free for all. This changes the landscape drastically because you can't counter pick into any specific composition, you just have to form the overall best comp that net results you in the most wins. The game then becomes dull when everyone starts picking the same overall "best" comp.

Which is why I can only see it being something fun, and not something with competitive culture.
 

Lukha

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Yea, I definitely share the same view with you and Erroneous. The fad doesn't seem to be dying out anytime soon though, which is unfortunate because that prevents developers to push out original content if they can just trap you with a Battle Royale title, which is unlucky.

My only qualms about the Battlerite Royale is that the core game stems from a MOBA genre, which means there are clear counter matchups for specific heroes. This means there is going to be a tier list on which is the best composition.

Instead of being a 3v3 or a 5v5, it's a free for all. This changes the landscape drastically because you can't counter pick into any specific composition, you just have to form the overall best comp that net results you in the most wins. The game then becomes dull when everyone starts picking the same overall "best" comp.

Which is why I can only see it being something fun, and not something with competitive culture.

Oooh, I didn't think about that. Yeah, you're right. I guess the game can become dull if there's a clear strategic advantage to a team composition (if it's like a team BR that is). However, I think the spontaneity of not knowing what the other comps will be can make for an interesting play. Because I don't always believe there's a "best" comp; that is of course, if the developers have created well-evenly skilled characters. For example in a basic game, a healer, tank, and main damage dealer is the "ideal" comp but if against a highly aggro team with high damage dealers, they can't win if the healer is killed. So basically what I'm saying is, it can depend on how they play the game rather than just who they play in the game. But also idk, cuz I don't know anything about the MOBA you're talking about so this is just my speculation!
 

S.D.Mills

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From my game industry point of view, I think the market's become as saturated as it can. I doubt there's any new addressable market left, so any new titles will be vying for someone else's marketshare.

As a developer, I see the appeal for that type of product. It's non-linear, repetitive, and is easy to create additional content that has an ungodly high return on investment. As a creator and writer, I find how crowded the market is to be evidence of how easy it is for real innovators to be overrun by people willing to sell inferior goods for higher prices just because they can.
 
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