Popularity for game genres comes and goes quite regularly, but esports titles tend to remain largely the same for a longer period of time with games that make it to the top of the list often remaining at the top of the list. The latest trend of games to reach this new height is within the Battle Royale genre, games like Fortnite, PUBG, and Apex Legends.
Despite being quite new to the esports scene, all have found huge success and growth, games like PUBG have moved onto to mobile to become the biggest mobile esports title in the world, but others like Apex have found a steady home on PC with a growing number of competitions.
No two games are ever the same
With some esports titles in the MOBA space with DoTA and LoL being the big names, and even in the FPS space too with titles like Counter-Strike, some of the games can blend together and look eerily similar with set-ups and certain aspects of the game looking very similar. Battle Royale games tend to be extremely different here, with different drop zones, different look cycles, and different final zones too, no two games are ever quite the same and it can lead to a very interesting gameplay loop from a viewer perspective.
The downside here can be that it may also favor a particular playstyle, some players or teams may look to avoid some action in favor of a safer or more conservative playstyle which is never quite as fun to watch.
A huge skill ceiling is exciting to watch
Every big esports title has a big skill ceiling at the highest level, but none quite as big as battle royale games from a viewer perspective. Movement is an extremely important factor when it comes to games like Apex with some players really able to set themselves apart from others, with all of the verticality to the game, players run into situations they may not find in other FPS games like Counter-Strike, and a play that can move more efficiently than others has a huge advantage.
When additional elements are added like the building in Fortnite, it only looks to raise this skill ceiling further. For newcomers it can be a bit difficult to follow at first, there’s a lot of very fast movement that isn’t always very clear to follow, but with time comes experience and it becomes that much more exciting to watch along too.
New maps, new metas – Something that BR games have done extremely well is within their evolution, a steady release of new maps constantly shake up the meta game and often a fresh coat of paint where other maps can become more tired, but also lead to very different playstyles between maps too. Other games that have a similar map-based rotation tend to have maps stick around for a long while, and to some can become stale.
Other games that rely on heroes or agents also go through similar issues as the meta game may not be shuffled as regularly as some players had hoped. The initial randomness of the game combined with this shifting meta also contributes to the excitement that battle royale titles bring.
These titles have shown a thriving esports space – with betting options also available but what is it about BR games that make them such good esports title to watch? It is a interesting questions, as they remain so popular and continue to grow!
