Image: Cyber Hunter.
Since mid-2017, it is rare that someone minimally linked to the world of video games has not heard the term ‘ Battle Royale ‘. Although it already existed previously, in those years it became a mode available in numerous titles that was opening a gap among the gamer community and ended up turning some of the games that played it into hits. The ‘ Battle Royale ‘ mode consists of a massive combat between players who appear on a large map without weapons or consumables and must equip themselves with what they find and be the last to be alive to win.
Generally, each game usually brings together 100 players who can choose to act as a team, in pairs or alone . The characters are launched from the air at the point they want on the map and must obtain weapons, ammunition, consumables and, in some cases, materials to build defenses. The map has a safe zone that is regularly reduced to force the players themselves to focus on one point and, whether they want to or not, face each other until there is only one winner left . The different scenarios that make up the terrain and the random appearance of objects manage to give each game a feeling of novelty despite the fact that the mechanics are always the same.
Origin of the ‘Battle Royale’
The concept began to be used in the American wrestling show WWE ( World Wrestling Entertainment Inc. ) although under the name of Royale Rumble. It was a type of combat in which the fighters entered the ring at regular intervals of time and ended up facing each other in a chaotic free-for-all from which, as in games, only one could exit. Although it became popular in the late 1980s, it is only a precedent. The true source of inspiration for the ‘ Battle Royale ‘ arose in Japan in 1999 .
How the ‘Battle Royale’ jumped from the screen to the console
That year, the author Koushun Takami published a novel entitled ‘Battle Royale’ in which, after World War II, Japan had fallen into an authoritarian regime in which forty-two students from secondary annually . The success of the book was immediate and in 2000 it was adapted to the big screen. Suzanne Collins’ literary saga ‘ The Hunger Games ‘ closely resembles the story of Takami.
The movie ‘ Battle Royale ‘ and its sequel did not raise a large sum of money at the box office or win over critics, but they liked the general public because of the bizarre situation they posed . Very soon the idea was taken advantage of in the world of video games creating small winks or secondary modes in titles such as Minecraft or DayZ . However, his success would come with PlayerUnknown’s Battleground ( PUBG ), developed by Brendan Greene , and Fortnite: Battle Royale from Epic Games ; although the recent Apex Legends is not far behind either. Although they are generally free-to-play titles (the basic content is free), players have the option of expanding their experience with new characters, perks or weapons through micro-transactions.
The triumph was almost instantaneous, the number of players and the profits of the respective companies multiplied and both titles began to leave the consoles with clothes, merchandising and even dances. While PUBG was betting on a more realistic and adult style, close to the experiences of shooters like Call of Duty , Fortnite preferred to maintain a more relaxed tone with its cartoon- like aesthetic and giving importance to the collection of materials to be able to build defensive structures .
Its success caused a tsunami of variations, copies and inspired games of all kinds that filled a niche as profitable as it was unstable, turning the market of Battle Royale games itself into a Battle Royale of video games (paradoxical, no?). The survival of these titles is usually linked to a constant update that incorporates new elements that make the experience refreshing and in the different seasons. These collect all the games during a certain time that provide rewards and positions in a ranking that, by making a clean slate, encourage the player to compete and try to improve on their previous results.
It can only be one!
