It’s been a few years now since theBattle Royale genreovertook the gaming world. Starting as aDayZmod to become one of the biggest genres in gaming, it continues to grow in popularity. Yet, for one of the pioneers within the video game industry, the genre itself isn’t so unique.
As part of IGN’s Icon Month, the gaming website interviewed industry legendJohn Romeroand his wife Brenda to gain their perspective on the gaming industry. Considering John Romero’s history with the Shooter genre, he gave his insights into the current state of shooters and its many adaptations. Romero specifically talks about Battle Royale games as the perfect example of how the genre persists.
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To Romero, Battle Royale as a genre is nothing inherently new. Romero said regarding the style of shooter: “It’s not the be all, end all. It’s just another mode of deathmatch. It’s not a whole new type of shooter. It’s a shooter. It’s just in a bigger map, and has a lot more people and ends with a specific time. It’s a cool ruleset for deathmatch.”
Romero goes on to explain that the notion of a rule set is what might alter and change the way a shooter is played, but in the end it is still a shooter. He does not consider these rule sets to be the “future” of the genre but “a really cool feature” of it.
Romero does explain that while these new rule sets are not changing the genre, that doesn’t mean innovations have not been made. The designer specifically speaks toCall of DutyandHalf-Life 2as defining moments for shooters. For the former, it was the introduction of an objective-based progression model. With regards toHalf-Life 2, Romero believes it introduced “a lot of storytelling.”
The Battle Royale genre itself is based on film of the same name. Director Kinji Fukasaku’sBattle Royalewas a film about a group of Japanese teenagers trapped on an island. Each armed with a specific weapon and a map, the goal was to have one lone survivor as they pick each other off and maneuvered through zones. The game to popularize and shape the playstyle was 2016’sPlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds,whichstarted as a mod forDayZandARMA 2.
SincePlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, the genre has exploded through followups likeFortnite,Apex Legends, andCall of Duty: Warzone. Just over the last two days, new Battle Royale games have been announced. Publisher Ubisoft’s recently releasedHyper Scapehastopped the Twitch charts since its debutwhile Team17 announced its own spin on the genre withWorms Rumble.
While many Battle Royale games come and go, Epic’sFortnitecontinues to be the most prominent success story. Epic’s Battle Royale builder has even spanned beyond the gaming world to become a pop culture mainstay with350 million registered players. Its recent collaboration with musician Travis Scott set new records for concurrent players.
Romero continues to develop games some 30 years after starting in the industry. Last year he released an unofficial mod forDoomcalledSigilthat even made it into official releases. Beyond his musings of first person level design, his new strategy gameEmpire of Sinis currently in development at Romero games and is expected this year. The designer is even going so far to even puthis great-grandmother in the game.
Empire of Sinis expected to release this year on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, PC, and Xbox One.
