Why I Dislike Battle Royale Genre

It all started with PLAYERUKNOWN’S BATTLEGROUNDS (PUBG), that took the loot gathering concept of survival games and player’s love for conflict without a reason (looking at you, DayZ) to a whole new exciting at that time level.

A huge map that holds hundred of players who are scattered all over in hopes of finding an epic loot. To win, who have to be the last survivor. With the map constantly shrinking down to the mystical, but a damaging barrier, players are forcefully drawn into smaller areas.

Such an idea took over the gaming community by storm. An exciting mix of survival and action that many craved for a while. Fight, hide, chase or mess around with the players, it is all to your imagination to how you may end up the last survivor. With the ever-shrinking map, your enemies are bound to be somewhere close, keeping every moment of your virtual existence packed with adrenaline. Or so I thought…

Hard Realization

I was excited to jump on a PUBG bandwagon only to find myself realizing – I despised this genre. I find myself struggling to survive, only to be shot dead which sends me back to the menu screen. Not only do I have to wait several minutes to start up the game after death, but I must start from the beginning.

Repeating the loot search in hopes to be the first one to the gun before others are annoying and Otherwise, you are likely to be facing an armed opponent, with only having your fists to fight them. Hence, I ditched the game after 5 hours of playing it (I know, this is not much to git gud, but I couldn’t bear it anymore).

Searching for the New Hope

So, when the next big came up – Fortnite – I was very skeptical of the game. But darn, it got too popular, so maybe building stuff and cartoon graphics is what I needed?

Unfortunately, it only made me dislike battle royales even more. Now, not only I have to deal with annoying aspects of finding a gun and shooting, but also face the players who instantly build strongholds in a whip of their construction paper. Soon Fortnite it became and still is the mainstream battle royale game.

The entry level is frustratingly high to players like me, so I quickly abandoned the game.

Then came Black Ops 4 (Bo4) battle royal mode… there are a few things that I liked. One being the intuitive gunplay and the other is the first-person camera. Besides that, it is as frustrating as PUBG.

Now finally we come to Apex Legends, which I find it to be a mix of Overwatch, PUBG and even Bo4. Made by Respawn Entertainment, the same guys who made Modern Warfare and Titanfall games. What is so different about it compared to the other Battle Royals?

You can resurrect your teammates. That is mostly it.

Such simple, yet an effective incentive to keep teammates in the game in hopes that their badges from their bodies are picked up. A second chance for early game mistakes. There are only ninety seconds before you completely perish without. Meanwhile, you or your teammates must decide if it best to resurrect you or kill the enemy responsible for it.

Besides this new feature, Apex Legends has all the sins of the battle royale games: micro transaction for cosmetics, two locked characters behind the paywall, soon to be battle pass and being free to play. It certainly attracts many players with its satisfying gunplay, quick paced games, and unique class design, but I still find it discouraging as it is similar to any other battle royal games.

I once managed to pull off a victory in Apex Legends. I felt like I deserved a handsome reward, only to be met with a similar statistic screen when you die. In a way, I felt cheated by the game. Bunch of experience points barely justify why I should be bothered to play it again.

Don’t get me wrong, I love first person shooter games. Overwatch or Battlefield V have their charm, that keeps pulling me to play them over 150 hours already. In both games after death, I am not thrown off the game and left waiting for another one to start. I continue playing on after waiting for a few seconds.

Final Thoughts

Overall, I believe one of the most frustrating issues with battle royale games is their core mechanic of having one life within the game session. While this keeps many on their toes, I found myself difficult to enjoy such format. After death, I must spend too much time to get back to the fresh game, where I must find new loot again and hope that somebody doesn’t get their guns before you.

I still find the idea enticing, but unfortunately, the realization of it makes it hard for me to really dive into the genre. Maybe in the future, something better will show up, who kno

BR games are the cancer of the video game industries beside EA destroying studios one by one. The real culprits are kids, teenagers and young adults who only play games on smartphones and nothing else. There are countless of BR and MOBA games on mobiles and each of them made tons of profits each year. "Games as services" mentality have spawned countless of shitty BR/Online games and killed single-player ones.

@lembu90: BR started very successfully with PUBG, which has spurred many other industries to create BR games with their own spin to it. We can also look back a few years ago, when Overwatch's success has spurred the creation of many other team-based shooters (Paladins, Battleborn and cheap spin-offs on mobiles). If we look further back, the same happened with DOTA and so forth. The industries will follow the trend to create guaranteed revenue from them.

You are correct that the real culprits are kids, teenagers and young adults... this is demographic that can most likely not have their own money to spend on games, hence it is attractive to jump into "free-to-play" games (Fortnite, LoL, Apex Legends, etc.). It is also easy to do the same on mobiles (no surprise, it is the most profitable market for gaming today). I do not judge customer's decisions, but the sheer influx of BR or "live service" as of late shows me a concerning lack of creativity and risk-taking in the gaming industries.

It comes down to the easiest method of earning money, which upsets me greatly. Meanwhile, my hopes are on indie industries, that create creative and fun content for single players.

I played fortnite and apex and get the same vibes and cod bo4 no single player and they fell for the same trend. Guess originality died.

BRs were once cool but now they are everywhere.

@gettingonwithgaminglife: it's a quality over quantity at this point.

Perhaps, soon there would open up to a new pipular genre, that will be exploited until it's dry.

It worries me a little, because more effort will be put where there is more money. Hence, less risky taking and originality from big industries.

We can only hope that with indie devs and some big developers will bring forth some of the creative ideas to gaming world.

Yes I have been looking to indie games now. They certainly have more opportunity for creativity. They got less to lose in some manner.

@gettingonwithgaminglife: I would argue they have to be more creative to stand out among the competition. While they got financially less to lose, a lot of them have an incredible task to get noticed.

Essentially, they have to make a shot in some direction and hope they will hit something. Taking such big risks can cause bankruptcy. Hence, big companies do not take big risks. Looks at Assasin's Greed Franchise (with the last two games being different gameplay wise, but the atmosphere still remain the same), Call of Duty, Battlefield, Far Cry, Fifa and so forth. Pretty much same gameplay with several changes.

It's a trend I haven't gotten into, nor plan on getting into. I've mostly distanced myself from online games so this is just especially unappealing to me. At a glance, the concept of these battle royale modes/games is kind of interesting. But I don't see the long term appeal in it. You jump in a match, see how long you survive, most likely die, then join another game and repeat. I've watched a good amount of gameplay from these types of games and like 90% of it boils down to searching for loot, running, and hiding. Most matches end up with just 1 or 2 encounters for the average person. But, for all I know, maybe this description isn't accurate for all Battle Royale games. In any case, I just can't be assed to ever try them and I'm definitely not touching anything with a "freemium" model.

Yeah that's perhaps because their give the adrenalin rush and not the lastomg appeal. In my case anyway.

@KReal your right. The smaller entepreneur takes more risks than the big ones.

Never been a fan of these types of games.

@gettingonwithgaminglife: It seems it all comes down to what action we should take. The best that I can think of is to support indie developers and spread the word about their games if you genuinely like it. Otherwise, we will be shoved the identical games again and again.

@SoNin360: You describe my struggle quite well. In all of these games, there is only 1 victor and 99 losers. Statistically, you are just most likely end up within with those 99 people (in my case at least).

After you die, you jump right to the menu and repeat this process again. I just don't get the satisfaction of playing a game, where I progress at turtle speed if I can progress at all (freemiums, eh?). I would rather jump to the game of Overwatch and earn a level for a loot box while having fun to do so.

@speeny: Yeah, I have only realized that I am not a fan of them either. I am just getting worried and sick from the abundance of Battle Royale games over the past year. It clearly shows that the gaming industry will just chase whatever trend there is, rather than innovate.

BR isn't entirely new concept in video games. I remember playing multiplayer mode of Half-Life in 1999 with my friends in a local cybercafe. Back then multiplayer was really "multi-player", unlike today where you are lonely gamer in front of your PC, TV or smartphone screens connected with other lonely gamers online.

Sadly today most multiplayer games are nothing to cash-in people who addicted to mobile gaming. Both PUBG and Fortnite have mobile versions as well as native console and PC versions. And that just the tip of the BR iceberg.

@lembu90: Yeah, that is the deal today. Sadly, the industries will follow the crowd since more people = more money. It was logical to leap to the mobile version for Fortnite and PUBG, as the potential profits are bigger in there.

About the multiplayer, it is both a curse and a blessing. A curse being a lonely person in front of computer/console, while the blessing is the fact that you don't have to go out of your way to play with other people.

I was also a frequent visitor of cybercafes, where I would play with my friends, but I, to be honest - weighing both cons and pros, I prefer current multiplayer style compared to the past. Paying for the time to play games was not a pleasant thing.

@infamy: It looks quite interesting, but I am afraid that I will just continue to die to experienced players at the start, that will force me to rage quit.

But, I will check it out regardless, thanks!

The big problem: half the game is luck:

1) Can you get lucky and find the equipment to give you the edge?
2) Will you get lucky and be in the right place when the circle shrinks, or get lucky and find a vehicle to get to safety?

The remaining half is experience.

@Black_Knight_00: You pin-point at one of my biggest frustration. Never in games, have I ever had fun playing against somebody who is way better equipped than me. Of course, the lady fortune might smile on you and give you amazing stuff, but then how is that fair to others? In addition, the next half is the experience you have.

While in many other genres, equipment is acquired through crafting, looting and by generally playing the game, in BR it is just up to your luck on what you will get.

Then the question follows; How will I get experience, if I just don't like playing the game? The answer you don't. You move on, just like I do with many of the current BR games.

My problem with PUBG was that the ballistics were difficult to get used to and the game didn't have a target practice mode until over a year after I dropped it.

So the only way you had to get used to how bullet drop and recoil worked, and more importantly how many rounds it took to kill one guy, was to hope to christ you could find a gun you wanted to practice, then hope to god you could find a guy who'd stay in your sights long enough to fire a few shots and see where they hit and to what effect, which needless to say is a complete crapshoot seeing how few encounters there are in this kind of game compared to other games with complex ballistics like Battlefield.

It was an exercise in frustration I didn't care to put myself through for more than a dozen hours.

@Black_Knight_00: Again, issues of luck (e.g. I need to find a good gun) and difficulty to acquire experience (e.g. learning bullet drop + recoil of each gun) leaves such games with a high skill level cap entry. This does not entice me, as a beginner to play them at all.

Yeah, it makes sense that you wouldn't want to be put up more than few hours. Games need to be fun, not frustrating.

Myself as well feels the same way with some of these games, its weird. The battle royale genre was very exciting to me and i always was fond of the idea since the books and movie Hunger Games. What i loved was Minecraft: Hunger Games, i had a absolute blast at the game mode within Minecraft. It really sparked my excitement for this new genre of game. While i never played Day z or Pub G, i always heard bad things about the games.

Fortnite was different for me. I loved it. I had a PS4 so i always had time to play games. I started playing at the beginning when it was released in September. I played it everyday with my friends. I loved the battle pass I thought it was genius that you pay ten dollars, get a bunch of skins, pickaxes, emotes and more. They also gave you enough V bucks to repurchase the following seasons battle pass. Until season 6 happened. This is where all the love i had for the game fell down enormously. Epic kept releasing patches after patches of things i personally didn't like, it was very frustrating for me. I also stopped getting that feeling of Adrenalin when I won a game as User @GettingonwithGamingLife mentioned. Yes, i still played the game, only because my friends still loved it and it was the only popular game at the time. I will always love Fortnite and always support the core of the game, It was my first true battle royale and i wasn't half bad at the game. User @K-Real spoke of learning different patterns within the game such as bullet drops, recoil, and spawn locations and i think that was my most thing i disliked about fortnite, Its completely random if you win.

Call of Duty's: Black Ops 4: Blackout was horrible to me. I love Call of duty, I've played it since Black ops 1 so i was very excited for another black ops game to release and even better the game was releasing with a battle royale mode! Fortnite was still being played and I really thought this game could finally find my personal niche of battle royale games just because i had love the Call of Duty play style, and get my friends off of Fortnite. We played multiplayer for the initial release of the game and I also put an unhealthy amount of time playing that as well. I finally stopped playing multiplayer and i finally get to play "Blackout". We ended up hardly playing, the game was very slow to me, the looting system was not good to me and i had difficulty navigating through the inventory. I stopped playing after a month.

Now i play Apex legends and i personally enjoy what the game has to offer. People who say "but will it kill fortnite" are annoying to me because a person who likes the game will always the game they enjoy most. I Since its new I haven't gotten the vibe that my enjoyment is running out.I don't think these games are going anywhere anytime soon as well. Fortnite is still very popular with the younger generation and i personally don't know when it will "die". Apex reached 10 million players in just 3 days when it was released and recently hit 50 Million players and is soon releasing a battle pass alongside legends. I hope Apex finds my niche and i can finally enjoy this genre.

https://www.ea.com/games/apex-legends/news/apex-legends-10-million-players

I’m not going to defend the genre as a whole, but I really like Apex. Getting into a new match is very quick, so losing doesn’t feel like a big deal. Reviving is a great mechanic, and ensures you can continue playing with your team even if you got unlucky in a firefight.

Movement also feels great and the ping system should be introduced into almost every MP IMO.

I’ve found jumping into a hot area to be the way to go. That way you get right into the action, and avoid situations where you loot for 5-10 minutes just to die in an instant.

As for microtransactions, it’s a F2P game. They need to make money somehow. The paid characters can be unlocked for free with enough playtime. It’s not even that much time.

Is 'Battle Royale' another way of saying 'last man standing'?

I guess it is.

I watched Apex Legends. The graphics look very dated.

It would be nice if someone could expand on this formula rather than copying pubg which coped dayz which 'Rocket' made up.

Maybe if one of these game added a unique aspect, it may be an interesting new genre to me.

I can shoot people in the head for days in any game I want but it all feels a little bit empty somehow...

Well I was really bad and got harassed for it too so I just gave up. The fun died and the fad wore off.

Though I might give apex a try again but meh.

@Ross_the_Boss6: Apex Legends is perhaps one of the best BR titles that I have played so far. It is quick and the movement is indeed a top-notch. I found sliding mechanics to be very enjoyable.

Jumping into hot areas is a good way to jump straight into the action, but there is a lot that is left to luck. For example, how likely will I pick up a gun before my enemy does? Will I actually find a gun in the first place?

If one does not a proper gun in short time, they are most likely to end up dead. Perhaps, strategies like hiding and scavenging fallen champions could be viable? But then, that leaves you out of the action and is very vulnerable. My issue is that it is hard to survive if you do not have a gun or don't have the proper experience to wield it.

About F2P, I don't mind the microtransactions as long as they are cosmetic and non-aggressive. I would argue that in Apex Legends, having two locked characters means that those who bought them have an advantage over those who did not. As you mentioned, you can unlock these characters through playing... but that means that those who start the game will inherently be at a disadvantage due to fewer options available.

I should acknowledge my bias, in that I have a hard time to enjoy these games. Hence I am naturally more negative about it than I perhaps should be. Overall, the BR games could be fun to many others for many reasons!

@gettingonwithgaminglife: It's unfortunate you had this experience. The nature of multiplayer games can lead to nasty and toxic people that can ruin our perception of the game. Hopefully, your return to Apex Legends will be a better experience!

I wouldn't say new players are at a disadvantage by not having these characters. Ideally all the legends would be perfectly balanced with their own strengths and weaknesses. They're not of course, but I'd say it's pretty close. One of the paid legends, Caustic, is actually considered to be one of the worst. His abilities are situational and he has the second largest hit box. The second paid legend, Mirage, is middle of the road. He's good, but there are a few free legends that are generally more useful.

@Ross_the_Boss6: If we are talking about the balance between the champions, then I agree. Ideally, they all should be balanced and even the locked characters are not overly amazing. But it does limit a player (even if it is by little) in terms of tactics. What if I want to land near the facility full of closed hallways and rooms? - Caustic seems to be a good choice for this. Yes, it is very situational, but the beginners don't have such an option.

But perhaps, you are right. This is not as big of an issue as I make it out to be. But this shows that future champions might be locked behind the paywall, that can be OP or really fun to play as. But it is their game to make and their way to earn money, so I cannot judge too hard for this.

I'm in your boat - I find BR games enticing, but I just cannot dive into them more. I know people who enjoy them and I'm glad they do! To each their own, I guess. :)

Hated them as well, until Apex legends which I must admit I'm loving right now.

@k-real: The problem is this is a team based game and the pressure is there. If I let my team down I feel pretty bad, I try my best, spending a lot in the firing range. I improved but not much. :(. If people could just calm down and be whatever when us noobs are around the pressure would lower.

@gettingonwithgaminglife: my heart goes out to you. Getting it in the neck on multiplayer team games can be soul crushing. You don't want to be heckled by your own team but it is common.

BR team games should be tiered perhaps.

@k-real:

Jumping into hot areas is a good way to jump straight into the action, but there is a lot that is left to luck. For example, how likely will I pick up a gun before my enemy does? Will I actually find a gun in the first place?

If one does not a proper gun in short time, they are most likely to end up dead. Perhaps, strategies like hiding and scavenging fallen champions could be viable? But then, that leaves you out of the action and is very vulnerable. My issue is that it is hard to survive if you do not have a gun or don't have the proper experience to wield it.

I don't really understand why this is the standard. Why not drop with a pistol and one clip? Ring of Elysium does this. The RNG is already a barrier to fun for some, this could lighten it a bit without damaging the scavenging element at all. I feel like Apex already bucked the central tenant of "one life" so why not this one, too? If someone's gonna say, "i don't want to play a game that doesn't let me shoot unarmed people," you probably don't want that person in your game anyway.

Apex really nails it with map design and the redeploys, which both encourage faster pacing, although patching the boosters on the redeploy was a mistake. Sure, they didn't intend for players to soar from balloon to balloon and through canyons, but it was awesome and made the matches so much more intense...just keep it. You can point to similar features that have found their way into other games by chance. It was a happy accident and they ruined it.

@gettingonwithgaminglife: Well, the next challenge is how do we measure how good the player is in BR? By kills, wins, time played? The funny thing is that to win BR game, you only have to do one kill (or four if you are in a squad). It seems to be a little difficult for me to conceptualize how we would measure the "skill" level of each BR player.

Ideally, nobody should judge you harshly when it is your first time playing.

Unfortunately in reality, when you are trying to play for the win, having a "noob" on your team can be frustrating. Not only they are likely to die, but they also need to be taught the mechanics... for some, this could be annoying. Fortunately, I only had one bad experience in Apex with my team, I typically don't let it too close to my heart.

@Ish_basic: I am a little conflicted with the notion of what a starting equipment should be... Yeah, a pistol would be nice and can be a way some range defense. But the game balance is quite an intricate matter.

What if squads begin to target people one-by-one? The fighting would just begin immediately (knowing how people love to pick up a fight in BR). Without weapons, people have a brief moment to scatter into buildings. Otherwise, the shootout will become more often as soon as people land. It can also put on a certain requirement for a skill for using a pistol... but that is a meta-issue, rather than the game.

I believe the problem with RNG is extremely difficult to fix. As long as people start with the same equipment, it doesn't matter what they will have, the RNG is still going to take its toll. In other words, the issue of "what if they find a better gun than I will?" will still be there. But I imagine that with pistols at the beginning, finding guns will far more dangerous and extreme...

Again, this is simply my frustration with it. It doesn't mean that the BR games are not good objectively, but playing it leaves me in a lot of frustration, confusion and disappointment. High skill cap, randomness all over, mechanics and the culture around BR is not appealing as I expected it to be.

Yes bit when you play hours and still don't improve because you just cant get it. Never been good at online games anyway. I have other talents in gaming I suppose.

I love the genre. I think it was a breathe of fresh air in MP with PUBG. Got that adrenaline like I used to with the older Halo's and CoD's. I can see if you aren't very good at shooters, it can be frustrating. I personally like all 4 of the big BR games. Fortnite, however, I can only really play with a team in order for it be fun for me.

At the same time though, I hope that it doesn't flood the MP space. I'm more concerned about Halo: Infinite getting a BR mode. I wouldn't mind, but I just want classic halo.

happens

@k-real: I miss the good old days when online gaming was a social activity, not an anti-social one. I think it began in early 2000's when World of Warcraft and some other popular MMORPGs were launched and into an ugly mess of dead online games that out of competition and server shutdowns. Today most people don't even need to have a PC or console to play games, both online and offline anymore. They can play those games on their phones instead. Most cybercafes today were out of business due to low patronage(thanks to smartphones again) and those that still in business were relegated into "printing studious" as today's smartphones still don't have the print ability yet.

back to BR games, they are the fallout or byproduct of online games of the past. PUBG and Fortnite takes the world by storm. Call of Duty and Battlefield already have their own BR mode. Upcoming Halo: Infinite will have BR mode as well. I shouldn't be surprised if Bioware might announce a BR mode for Anthem someday. I hope Capcom won't jump into BR bandwagon and add BR mode for their future Monster Hunter games or otherwise people only interested on hunting each other instead of monsters and "Monster Hunter" will turn into "People Hunter" as the original title no longer relevant. While it was PUBG Corporation, Epic Games, Electronic Arts and Activision's fault for greedy enough to ruin the video game industry but it was players themselves should be blamed of letting those big companies to milk for their money by playing those games, buy some overpriced "premium" stuffs, etc. BR and other online games represent the ugly side of capitalism in general.

Yes to es I have been looking to indie games now.

I think battle royale is just another tool in the toolshed. If done right, it can offer a fun and original sort of game opposed to other kinds.

That said, a lot could be done with new BR games to differentiate them from the ones already on the market. First of all, why do so many of them need 100 players? I'm sure 10 or 20 or 50 is good for some games. And why do you have a single life? Some could have 3 lives, or deal with death in a different way. And nobody really says all BR games have to be third-person FPS games, either.

@Ovirew: I like the idea of multiple lives, but I am afraid it might also kill that sense of survival for many people. Having one life raises the stakes to play carefully and prioritize your survival, rather than bashing into the fight, only to be resurrected elsewhere.

I am not opposed to BR objectively, it has its appeal and it is a great versatility for implementing crazy ideas. It's just... the market is over-saturated with them and most of them only do one or two new things.

My biggest problem is that you are very likely to die and it leads to watching your main menu or preparation screen half of the playing time, which tests my patience a lot.

@k-real: TL;DR version. OP isn’t good at BR games and can’t be bothered to try and get better.

@lembu90: Back in 2000's online gaming was something new and innovative. Today it became a norm. Only by having friends online (let's be honest, not everyone can manage to have multiple friends who play the same games as you) does the online become somewhat of social activity. Those who mainly play by themselves (like me) will only interact online for short periods of time, without forming lasting relationships.

About BR, yes the bandwagon is strong. With the saturated market, it might become less popular as it will become more challenging to overcome competitors. Throwback when Overwatch was released, they were many similar "hero-selection, team-based action shooters" that popped out around that time (Paladins, Battleborn, Paragon, Lawbreakers). Now there aren't any games popping out like this anymore... why? Perhaps because the market got saturated or competition became too high to compete with.

Overall it seems like the industry is aware of this issue and tries to milk the money from the players before the trend fades out. But yes, mainly the players themselves are to blame for the popularity of microtransactions, season passes and further extra payment methods to impact their gaming experience. I can't deny that, but by having awareness like this, more and more players will realize that they are the cause of this and will stand against micro-transactions.

But I am getting a bit ambitious in such a goal. One can hope though.

@Sevenizz: I can't be bothered to spend half of my playing time on menu screens and preparing for another game. It's just not fun.

But yeah, I admit I am not that good at BR. But the BR games never incentivize me to become better at them.

@k-real: your response got me thinking, it would be kinda cool if there was a really addictive minigame thing you could work on in-between matches, one that's simple and laid-back, but the more time you put into it the more it benefits you in some way....or maybe it has nothing to do with the main game at all.