One of the biggest gaming news stories from the past year has been the unbridled success of the battle royale game genre. Taking its name and its inspiration from the Japanese thriller movie of the same name, a battle royale is understood to be a fight among many combatants to see who is the last one standing. The game to kick things off was PUBG Corp’s game, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, which launched in early access on PC in March 2017 before blasting its way to the top of the Steam charts, eventually becoming so successful that it received a mobile spin-off on iOS and Android.
Other games to find a foothold in the genre include Fortnite Battle Royale, which now has more than 125 million players across PC, mobile and consoles and spending all sorts of money in various characters and skins , as well as fantasy-inspired newcomer Realm Royale and parody cooking battle royale game Cuisine Royale. The game has had a great impact on all 7 platforms, it’s an intuitive game with free skins fortnite available to personalize your characters.
The success of this burgeoning game genre is partly an example of how the games industry can so quickly adapt (and give rise to) new trends. But it has also got many wondering: if battle royale can see such huge success, could we potentially see other new video game genres?
How Hybrid Games Have Found Success
Many gamers may argue that we have already seen plenty of new video game genres emerge recently: but not in the way that you may think. We may not have seen all-new genres such as the first-person shooter or the role-playing game, but we have seen plenty of “hybrid” game genres that combine existing genres into a harmonious hodgepodge.
Unsurprisingly, many of these hybrid games revolve around the match 3 genre of matching multiple symbols in order to get points or deal damage. The genre is already familiar to millions which is why we’ve seen it adopted in games like superhero mobile game Marvel Puzzle Quest which lets players put together a dream team of characters like Spider-Man, Captain America, and The Hulk, matching symbols to success in battle. This is the same principle of superstar brawler game WWE Champions, which features familiar names like John Cena, Dolph Ziggler, and Seth Rollins as they take to the ring and duke it out.
But then there are other, less conventional games or unexpected hybrids like that of Battlejack which combines casino and blackjack games with RPG mechanics, allowing players to battle fantasy characters with grizzled faces and collect and level up heroes. The game is enthralling but according to Betway Casino’s guide to blackjack and its rules, the game isn’t entirely accurate as you can’t double down, which allows you to double your initial bet, and the aim is just to get as close to 21 as possible, meaning that players only get a segment of the true blackjack experience. Meanwhile, Tiny Dice Blackjack matches dungeon crawling and battles with giant monsters, wizards, dragons and loot with casino mechanics. Rolling powerful dice is the way to win in this game – it’s not like playing a card game at a table but it gets players accustomed to the idea.
Although these latter game concepts may not instantly spring to mind when people think up perfect combos of game genres, they work well. It highlights that even the most unusual hybrids can work as all-new, entertaining experiences.
How Will New Game Genres Emerge?
New game genres don’t just come out of nowhere; forming new ones will take serious strategy from the games industry. For example, one reason that Fortnite Battle Royale has succeeded high-profile streamers, such as Ninja, playing the game and getting it in front of new audiences. Likewise, we’ve seen traditional but neglected game genres such as interactive fiction regain popularity thanks to games like PS4 exclusive Detroit: Become Human, meanwhile, virtual reality headsets have allowed the genre to become more immersive. However, Detroit: Become Human was made by a team with a close relationship with PS4 platform holder Sony, which offered the team its full support. Plus, VR is a slowly growing sector that hasn’t yet become mainstream. Not every game publisher is willing to take risks and not everyone owns a VR headset, something which may stifle potential and makes it difficult for new game genres to spring up.
The chances of finding a new game genre as successful as battle royale any time soon are slim and many seem to think that it was a fluke or at least something that isn’t easily replicated. But discovering new game genres is of huge importance to the games industry as it doesn’t want players to feel bored. So while the next big thing may be a mystery, many in the industry will be excited to see what it is.
