Could you be the last man standing in an epic battle royale battle for survival? If gamers are going head to head against each other until a single fighter remains, could you come out alive?

And, the rules are very simple: you are to collect supplies, ammunitions, and weapons, and fight to eliminate everyone else while evading getting trapped outside an ever-shrinking “safe zone.” Could you be the last competitor or team?

Simply, that’s how battle royale games are played. They have unique gameplay experience, which has made them an obsession for millions of players around the world.

If you are a developer and you’d like to build awe-inspiring games in this genre, then you can watch experts like Allar livestreaming their game development process—while you learn along the way.

So, why do gamers in the battle royale genre keep coming back for more action?

Here are four factors that make the games phenomenal.

1. Fun and unique game play

The battle royale games are enthralling and refreshing to play. Once you’ve started playing the game, it’s easy to be engrossed in the struggles and adventures of your pursuits.

Previously, nearly every shooter game depended on similar, traditional gameplay modes, such as team deathmatch (where the goal is to kill as many people as possible) or capture the flag (where the goal is to locate and recover the opponent’s flag as fast as possible).

Whereas the previous shooter games have been entertaining, they’ve become monotonous over the years, and gamers have been looking for new ways of achieving adrenaline spikes.

Therefore, gamers found the new last man concept of battle royale games to be very thrilling and immersive, resulting in the popularity of the genre.

For example, the game that popularized the genre is PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds (PUBG), which was released in March 2017.

This game brought a new, exciting twist to the shooter games; in which 100 players are dropped on an island and are left to face each other head to head until one fighter or team is left standing.

It was a crazy, refreshing twist on a tired genre. Consequently, it has made PUBG to sell more than 30 million copies on PC (as of February 2018).

This is what led to the sprouting of gaming’s latest phenomenon.

2. Free and easy

The battle royale games come with an intuitive interface that’s simple for beginners to play. Besides the thrill of playing these games, grasping the basics and venturing into the battlefield is easy, but difficult to master.

Therefore, anyone can easily start playing these games and aim to be the last man standing.

Another battle royale game that is becoming more popular than PUBG, the instigator of this genre, is Fortnite.

The game capitalized on PUBG successes and made the last-man-standing death competitions more accessible.

Fortnite was released on consoles in September 2017 as a free-to-play battle royale game. Unbelievably, since its launch, Fortnite has taken over the world.

Unlike PUBG that costs $30, playing Fortnite is free but it supports in-app purchases.

Furthermore, the game can be accessed on multiple platforms—including PC, mobile devices, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Another feature that has made Fortnite more popular is its focus on a young audience. The game’s cartoonish environment has made it attractive to gamers aged 13 to 17 years old.

These factors have united to make Fortnite to spread like wildfire. In February 2018, Fortnite made $126 million in sales, which exceeded the $103 million revenue of its competitor, PUBG.

Also, in the last week of February 2018, about 14 million viewers accessed Fortnite on Twitch while PUBG recorded 8.7 million viewers.

3. Battle Royale Games are Smartly designed

The smart design of the battle royale games is another feature that makes them phenomenal.

Although their fun gameplay mechanics are easy to understand, it requires an extensive depth of practice to master.

This is what distinguishes the great players from the normal ones, without making the game boring to anyone.

Most shooter games employ a gun play-style that is very thorough and exhilarating but do not encourage strategic gameplay.

Conversely, battle royale games are smartly designed such that if gamers do not use their strategic prowess, they cannot advance to the next stage.

For example, if you want to move from one point to another and you start spraying bullets without thinking, you’ll be taken out of the game.

To succeed in playing the games, you’ll need to plan your approach, scout challengers, and then make a tactful move.

For the gamers, this becomes more satisfying than simply running and scattering bullets all over the place.

4. Shareable moments

The fact that the battle royale games are fun both to play and watch is also a significant contributor to their massive player bases.

The games have captivating timed events and wonderful modes that are easy to share.

Players usually stream their actions live. For example, a popular Twitch streamer recorded more than 600,000 concurrent viewers while playing Fortnite.

Another YouTube streamer drew in more than 1 million viewers while playing the game.

Wrapping up

Will this craze of the battle of royale games last? In the past, we’ve seen gaming trends rising and quickly falling.

For example, Pokeman Go trended for a few months before starting to die.

However, the battle of royale games genre is not showing any signs of slowing down—until maybe someone develops a better innovative type of games.

With the success of PUBG and Fortnite, more games are set to be rolled out to further popularize this genre.

You can also become part of this excitement by learning how to develop battle royale games.

Are you a fan of battle royale games? What do you think has made them phenomenal? Please let us know in the comment section below.