In keeping with a brand new report from recreation trade analysis agency Newzoo, curiosity within the battle royale style is on a downward slope.
Which may seem to be a counterintuitive commentary when Fortnite, Warzone, PUBG, and Apex Legends are nonetheless enormous video games, but it surely in all probability has extra to do with their opponents calling it quits. In keeping with Newzoo’s Recreation Efficiency Monitor (which incorporates official and estimated knowledge from 37 markets excluding China and India), battle royales ate up 19% of whole hours performed in 2021 however simply 12% in 2023 and 2024.
Individuals aren’t taking part in battle royales as a lot as they did just a few years in the past, however apparently, Fortnite’s share of that playtime has exploded from 43% in 2021 to 77% in 2024. That is smart when you think about that Fortnite bought a giant participant increase from its Fortnite OG occasion in 2023 and shortly adopted that up by increasing into non-battle royale spinoffs performed inside Fortnite, like Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Pageant. Presumably, Newzoo is lumping all of Fortnite’s viewers into its share of the battle royale style, not simply these really taking part in the battle royale modes.
It is also true that the majority battle royale video games that launched between 2020 and 2024 have gone offline (RIP Bloodhunt), and we do not usually see new ones as of late. The trouble that builders used to place towards their spins on battle royales has lately been diverted towards making the subsequent nice extraction shooter—a more recent subgenre of shooters that is but to really escape past Escape From Tarkov and Hunt: Showdown. Possibly Bungie’s Marathon or Embark’s Arc Raiders can be large enough that the 2026 Newzoo report could have its personal “extraction shooter” style slice?
What did folks play with these 6% of hours that used to go towards battle royales? Shooters and RPGs. That is more-or-less per 2024 being a bigger-than-usual yr for Name of Responsibility (because of Recreation Move), breakout hits like Helldivers 2 and Marvel Rivals, and the yr’s spectacular run of motion RPGs.
Though, if you happen to lump battle royales right into a unified shooter clump, a extra constant pattern emerges. Because the report factors out, shooters as a complete have represented 40% of playtime yearly since 2021.
