Battle royale's popularity has exponentially spiked in the past few months, with PUBG hitting one million concurrents; this is the second time a game has surpassed one million on Steam and the only time a non-Valve game has surpassed one million. However, could battle royale games like H1Z1 and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds overthrow the FPS genre and become the new king of gaming?ffc
Before We Start: Background Info
For those who don't know, battle royale games are games that simply go like this; multiple players on a single map must gather supplies and fight until only one person (or team) is left standing. Notable examples include H1Z1: King of the Kill and PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, or PUBG for short. PUBG is the more popular out of the two, so we'll discuss that most of the time. PUBG was released as an Early Access game in March of 2017. One of the notable aspects of this game is that a great amount of changes occured during the currently active Early Access, in comparison to other similarly-sized games or projects. In September of 2017, PUBG hit one million simultaneously active players, an achievement only achieved by one other game.
The Rise of the FPS Genre
FPS games never truly had a rise; they had always happened to be a staple in gaming, at least in the 21st century. However, it was with the contribution of games such as Halo, Call of Duty 4, and to an extent Battlefield, that shaped what FPS games are today. That's what makes FPS games so popular; they can have many settings, tons of storylines, trainloads of multiplayer features, and replayability, which is why years-old games like Battlefield 2 and many older CoDs are still being played today. "Now," some of you may ask, "were there points in time where FPS games were at a peak?"
Yes, there was, and I will list some. Note that most of this is relative and/or subjective.
The FPS genre's first true rise to fame was in the 20th century; more specifically, the 1980s and early 90s. This can be referred to as the "Origins Age," and is where some of the first true FPS games, such as Wolfenstein, Duke Nukem, and Doom were born. The second rise was somewhat later, in the mid 2000s. Youtube was just becoming a thing, and its main audience were teenagers who liked to share funny or cool videos, mostly made in HyperCam 2, edited with Movie Maker and had some rock music playing over it. Around this time came the release of CoD 4, which could have created a second stage of FPS innovation and a possible shift in demographics. Finally, there came the most recent rise, which started around BF3 and Black Ops II's releases, which I wish not to discuss (hint: screaming kids) for mental wellness.
How Battle Royale Could Overthrow the FPS Genre
Here comes the fun part.
The main aspects of an FPS game are its dynamic potential; its everchanging structure and setting. Now imagine that with battle royale; it's better. Battle royale has much more opportunity to it than FPS; almost every gamer has had consideration towards a battle royale game due to its greater openness; it has the dynamic setting and structure, although the latter is somewhat limited. However, it has much more; since a battle royale game does not have a specific perspective (unlike FPS games), they can change this perspective without deviating from the genre, and still get more players. While there has not been one of significance yet, a battle royale game can also have a much wider change of pace or setting; you could have a game that's survival themed, or a battle royale that has you in control of a spaceship, gathering upgrades to get an upper hand. Finally, a battle royale game can have a more passive (or less graphic) setting, opening the doors for a younger audience.
Overall, while the reasoning was broad, one can conclude that the battle royale genre has the potential to outgun the FPS genre; that is if gamemakers decide to pick up on the rising popularity. If such were to occur, you could project that both AAA and indie devs would start developing different sorts of battle royale games, with varying settings, paces, audiences, and structures. As said before (although it was a bit cliche), the genre, through innovation and improvement, could outrun the FPS genre. However, battle royale games are much more limited when it comes to military based games, as battle royale is all about being the last one alive. Although this is a setback, it is entirely possible that battle royale could see an exponential spread and, perhaps in 2020, take the crown from the FPS genre.
