Is Realm Royale going extinct?
The Battle Royale craze has been so insane that many gaming companies decided they wanted a piece of the action, while I am not a major fan of Battle Royales I can understand why developers have jumped on the bandwagon in the hopes of achieving the same heights of success that Epic Games found with Fortnite and PUBG Corporation (the child company of Bluehole) found with PUBG respectively. So when the highly established Hi-Rez studio who are behind Smite an Paladins decided to throw their hat into the mix I thought they might pose some competition for the dominant Fortnite, oh how wrong was I? While Realm Royale started off with a massive high, it has come crashing down in the worst possible way
2 months ago when Realm Royale first entered into early access the game managed to hit an impressive 105,000 concurrent players however since then there has been a change in numbers, a dramatic drop to be exact, a staggering 94-97% drop in the concurrent player base, meaning the current concurrent player numbers are in the 3000-5000 range, a poor number and a major blow to Hi-Rez. At least Paladins is still a dominating force in the gaming world, not to mention Smite is a much loved game that players seem to enjoy going back to.
So where did Realm Royale go wrong? It certainly had the make up of a strong Battle Royale game, the problem appears to lay in that it is lacking replayability, many high profile streamers gave the game some hype upon initial release, this has of course changed since they don’t consider it to have the replay value of its already established competitor Fortnite. I do think Hi-Rez could turn this around, should it not already be too late with the major drop in their player base.
Perhaps Hi-Rez should look at implementing some tournaments, competitive gamers are always looking for a new tournament to demonstrate their dominance in, an upcoming tournament would also encourage people to pick the game up and jump in for practice. What hope do you have of winning a tournament without experience of the game after all? While I am not a main stream Battle Royale player with people who have been following me for a while knowing that I have had quite enough of this craze, I do think if Hi-Rez step up their game, implement some updates, make the game more replayable, create a rewarding experience that keeps the players coming back then maybe they will be okay.
Looking at the staggering drop in concurrent players it is clear Hi-Rez have their work cut out for them, is it a sign that we don’t need all these Battle Royale games, that the ones we have are enough? Is Realm Royale about to fall into the realm of extinction? Let me know what you think in the comments.
Strange Girl Gaming 
I think there are a few things with the Battle Royale craze right now. If you’re a new entry into the genre, what are you offering that other games aren’t? After that, how are you keeping players in your game? Beyond that though, is why would players who’ve invested time and money into the “big two” want to start again with your game?
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That’s just it, for a new battle royale player I can see them trying new games but for those who have invested time and money into their chosen game why should they jump ship to your game. it makes no sense for them to do so.
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While I can’t really enjoy battle royale games myself, I do really like how Epic are constantly running events and introducing more things into the game on a near weekly basis.
Of all the “live games” I’ve played, this is the first that really got it right. It’s just a shame I don’t enjoy playing the game itself.
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I dip into Fortnite every now and then, as you say Epic have done a great job of keeping things fresh and relevant with constant events they run.
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The Battle Royale craze is another in a long line of populous bandwagons. It may be a while before we’re able to assess why some have been more successful than others but in the mean time I fear the field will become over populated into oblivion by companies that don’t understand the base their trying to appeal to.
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I genuinely hoped this game would take off, with the item crafting and multiple forges set around the map it incited action and fast paced gameplay. However I just feel the lack of new content while the game was still fresh caused it’s downfall. As the saying goes, they done too little too late.
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We’ve even seen high-profile games jump on the bandwagon with Black Ops 4 and Battlefield 5. From what I’ve seen of Realm Royale, I think the major part where they missed the audience is they’ve attempted to replicate Fortnite way too much, which shows even through its visual style. And like you’ve said in your post, it lacks replay value a lot because of preset character skills that’s eliminated much of the ‘randomness’ that keeps players engaged in PUBG and Fortnite.
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