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Battle Royale Weekly: Gamescom and a New Battle Royale Game

Battle Royale Weekly was delayed just a little bit while we waited for news to come out of Gamescom. Now that the big push is out of the way though we can dive into things. We’ve got trailers for a few different games, Fear the Wolves Early Access has a start date, there’s a new Battle Royale game, and Fortnite is once again bringing in all the money. You can find all of that and more in this week’s edition of Battle Royale Weekly.

 

Battlefield V

Battlefield V is making a big splash at Gamescom this week. It’s playable on the convention floor and for anyone who isn’t there, we got a new trailer to watch for the Devastation of Rotterdam as well as possibly the first glimpse of the Battle Royale mode. The game will be going into beta in early September and will feature the new map.

Source: Press Release

 

Battlerite Royale

Last week Battlerite Royale got a gameplay reveal trailer that is sure to please. The game will be coming in September and beta sign-ups are now available.

Source: Press Release

 

Call of Duty Black Ops 4 Blackout

If you’ve been itching to get your hands on Blackout you’ll finally get your chance starting on September 10th for PS4 owners. PC and Xbox One players will have to wait until September 14th for their chance to play the beta of the battle royale mode. The game will be launching on October 12th.

Source: Press Release

 

The Darwin Project

Last week, The Darwin Project reached the number one spot in the Microsoft Store for free games. They also launched a partners program for content creators who meet their requirements. The program officially launches in September.

Source: Official Site, Twitter

 

Dying Light: Bad Blood

Dying Light: Bad Blood is at Gamescom this week, but if you aren’t then you’ll be able to get your hands on the game in September as it goes into Early Access. If you’re very very lucky you might be one of the few selected for a one day preview of the game this coming weekend. Keys for it will be handed out on August 22nd so if you’ve signed up for the beta make sure you keep an eye on your inbox.

Source: Press Release

 

Fear the Wolves

At Gamescom, Vostok revealed that Fear the Wolves would be hitting Steam Early Access on August 28th after being previously delayed. To go along with the announcement we got a Release Date Trailer.

Source: Press Release

 

Fortnite

Revenue for Fornite on iOS has reached $200 million just 5 months after it launched. It took 3 months to reach the $100 million mark, which means that people are spending even more on the most popular game in existence right now. Thanks to new information from SensorTower we know that this was primarily from players in the United States who account for 63% of the total spent so far. That’s $126 million and 12 times the amount of the second highest country, the UK who accounts for just 5% of the total. What does this mean? Americans REALLY love Fortnite. $200 million puts Fortnite up there with the King of mobile, Clash of Clans which brought in the same amount of money in the same amount of time. Based on their estimates, SensorTower projects that Fortnite will gross over $450 million in 2018 on iOS alone. This means that Apple will be getting an additional $75 million in platform fees on top of the $60 million it has made so far since March. With numbers like that is it any wonder Epic has decided to skip Google Play? SensorTower estimates that in doing so Google will miss out on at least $50 million in revenue this year alone.

Source: SensorTower

 

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

PUBG is getting a training mode. This mode will allow 5-20 players to practice on a 2x2km map. This is part of the Fix PUBG Campaign that was announced earlier this month. The campaign is an effort by the developers to make PUBG a better, more stable, and fairer game. The training mode will allow players to practice all aspects of the game including driving vehicles, practicing parachute landings, and mastering the peek shot amongst other things.

Source: Steam Announcement

 

Realm Royale

Hi-Rez has split up into three developers so that each one could focus on a particular game. Titan Forge Games will focus on Smite, Evil Mojo Games will work on Paladins, and Heroic Leap Games will develop Realm Royale. This couldn’t come at a better time as Realm Royale has seen its population on Steam drop nearly 95% in terms of concurrent players after 2 months, a shocking number to say the least.

Source: PC Gamer, Steam Charts

 

Stormdivers

Gamescom 2018 was only open for a few minutes before Stormdivers was announced. It was one of the very first press releases out the door and yes, it is, in fact, a Battle Royale game. It is being made by renowned Finnish studio Housemarque, who is known for games like Nex Machina and Resogun. This game brings us up to 35 Battle Royale titles we’re following. Check out the futuristic Battle Royale game in the official trailer below.

 

To be totally honest it’s a bit of a surprise that more new Battle Royale games weren’t announced. Gamescom isn’t always the best place to display new games so it is possible that there won’t be any. It’s also equally possible that there is a press embargo on some of the newer titles, so we will just have to wait until next week to get the full scope of what went down at Gamescom. If you’d like to just have the Battle Royale games of Gamescom 2018 we have another article just for you. Next week we also have PAX Prime to look forward to, which means even more opportunities for announcements and new games. If there are any new indie Battle Royale games made in North America, this is likely where we’ll find them.

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Battle Royale Weekly: News from Gaming’s Current Trend

Right now Battle Royale games are at the top of the gaming industry. They’re the latest trend being embraced by studios and as a result, we’re seeing more and more of them being announced every day. It can be difficult to follow them all though. Currently, we’re keeping track of more than 30 Battle Royale titles and expecting that list to grow all the time. To help you keep up with the genre we’re launching Battle Royale Weekly, a weekly look at Battle Royale games and the genre as a whole. So if you’re looking for the latest Battle Royale news you’re in the right place.

 

Battlefield V

Battlefield V is having another round of alpha testing beginning today. This one, just like the last will be for PC only. The playtest is based on the previous one, which means there won’t be anything new but they are looking to test player progression. They also made improvements to matchmaking and fixed issues with joining squads. You’ll be able to test a 64-player Conquest map along with Grand Operations day 1 and 2. The alpha will be available in many European countries and North America, but it is invite-only. Invitation codes are being sent out to a small group of Battlefield players. If you were lucky enough to take part in the last alpha test you’re automatically invited to this one as well. The test will be running for a limited time, though no end date has been announced yet.

Source: EA

 

Battlerite Royale

Just a few days ago Battlerite Royale became a standalone game and it will be going into Early Access next month. It was originally intended to launch this summer but thanks to the massive interest in the game and the constraints by some of the game’s systems, the developers have decided to go big. A roadmap for the development of the game has also recently gone live with details for the rest of 2018’s content updates, so be sure to go give that a look.

Source: Official Site

 

Crazy Justice

Crazy Justice is a Battle Royale title that doesn’t get a lot of mention at the moment, mostly because it isn’t actually playable yet. The game has a 100-player PvP mode in which you get to play one of dozens of heroes. What makes it stand out is that there are two modes of Battle Royale. In the normal Battle Royale, you’re playing without any abilities, or you can play Skill Royale mode which will give you access to your hero’s game-changing special skill. The game is planning on having cross-play between PC, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. The map is 6km2 with hidden areas, underwater areas, and hidden loot. According to their official site, they’re planning on entering Early Access sometime in August.

Source: Official Site

 

Cuisine Royale

What started out as an April Fools Day joke is indeed a full-fledged game. If you aren’t familiar with Cuisine Royale just know that your armor consists of colanders, woks, and waffle irons. The game is currently in Early Access on Steam. It is a game that is in active development getting new updates every few days. The most recent one landed today which introduced leaderboards. They’re separated by which of the three modes you’re playing in. To be shown on the boards, you need to take part in at least 20 battles with at least one victory in Duo/Squad. You can sort them by win or kill rating.

Source: Patch Notes

 

The Darwin Project

Today, The Darwin Project is holding a technical playtest for a couple of hours. In particular, they’re looking for feedback on the new Tile and new Tool, but you’ll be able to share your thoughts on all aspects of the game in a post playtest survey. The test will be running from 4 PM to 8 PM Eastern time. You can take part by completing the following steps on Steam:

  1. Go to your Steam library
    2. Right-click on Darwin Project and select Properties
    3. Go to the Beta tab and enter the playtest code: playtest73423482
    4. Click Check Code, then select Playtest from the drop-down menu
    5. Restart Steam and launch Darwin Project

Streamers will be able to stream the playtest, so even if you can’t take part you can still take a look and see how the game is doing right now.

Source: Official Site

 

Dying Light: Bad Blood

Dying Light: Bad Blood is another title that hasn’t been playable yet but by all accounts will be playable very soon. On the official site, you can sign up for global testing which is said to be coming soon. These global tests will run for a few days at a time on Steam. In this game, you’re fighting for a seat out of a zombie-infested area. You’ll have to fight off zombies as well as fellow players. To earn your seat out, you not only have to be the last one standing you also have to harvest blood from the infected.

Source: Official Site

 

Egress

Closed Beta testing for Egress started on August 1st, however a number of problems were uncovered during testing and as a result, they aren’t currently accepting more testers. On their official site, they say that the game needs a lot of improvement before they can invite even more players. The good news is that they’re already hard at work on improving the game. So hopefully it won’t be too long until more people can jump in.

 

Fear the Wolves

Fear The Wolves

Last month Fear the Wolves announced that they would be pushing back their Early Access by a few weeks. Since then there hasn’t been any word on when Early Access would begin or anything else really. On social media, they’re inviting more people to take part in beta testing which suggests that it may still be some time before we see the game start Early Access.

Source: Official Site

 

Fortnite

Fortnite is obviously one of the most talked about games at the moment as it is taking the world by storm. Because of this, we won’t be focusing on Fortnite unless the news is really big. Right now everyone is talking about streamer Ninja who recently said he won’t work with female gamers. This got a lot of backlash from gamers across the spectrum.

Source: Everyone is talking about it.

 

Fractured Lands

Fractured Lands has now been in Early Access for 3 weeks. On Steam it has mixed reviews, with a lot of people saying that it has potential. At the moment it seems as though they’re patching the game once a week, adding to it and improving what is already in place.

Source: Steam

 

H1Z1

Most recently H1Z1 launched on the Playstation 4 after having spent a few months in open beta. Since it launched there has already been a hotfix to take care of client performance, crashes, and other issues. There isn’t a whole lot more to say about the game though.

Source: Official Site

 

Knives Out

Knives Out isn’t currently supported in English but it is a massive hit for NetEase. In June, the game was number one on the iOS charts in Japan. This was part of a fantastic second quarter for the publishers who are shifting away from MMORPGs and embracing a wider variety of games, admittedly mostly mobile games. There aren’t any signs of Knives Out being released for Western audiences but we will continue to watch the game anyway in the hopes that something might change.

Source: GamesIndustry.biz

 

Mavericks: Proving Grounds

Mavericks: Proving Grounds

Mavericks has announced that they’re ditching the idea of Early Access, Closed Beta, Alpha, and all of that and instead just doing testing. There will be weekly updates to the game and you will be able to play at any time. Since E3, thousands of people have signed up to test the game. While we now don’t know when testing will begin, we at least know that once it does it will be staying on.

Source: Official Site

 

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds

Just like Fortnite, we aren’t going to be covering PUBG in too much detail. The game already gets talked about quite a bit in the industry. With that being said though, there is some interesting testing going on in the game. If you play on Xbox One you can test out some highly sought after additions to the game. They are dynamic weather and limb penetration. The patch notes for this are massive and well worth a read if you plan on taking part.

Source: Official Site

 

Rapture Rejects

What was possibly the most amusing game to come out of E3, Rapture Rejects hasn’t really been heard from much since then. But thanks to a recent interview with Tinybuild’s CEO Alex Nichiporchik we now have a few more details. This summer they’re planning on having a closed alpha and based on the results of that closed alpha they’ll decide where to go next. Exactly when it is going to start wasn’t stated, but summer is quickly coming to an end. If you’re lucky enough to be attending PAX West you’ll be able to be one of the first members of the public to try out the game. It will be playable at the Tinybuild booth.

Source: Geekwire Interview

 

SOS

SOS

For a while, SOS was enjoying some moderate success for an indie game on Steam. But some changes were made to the game that suddenly made it massively unpopular. So, in an effort to bring players back they’ve released SOS: Classic. This classic version of the game won’t be developed and no new content will be added. So the game will exist exactly as it did before the game mode was changed. It’s also going to be free to play.

Source: Steam

 

The CullingThe Culling

Development on The Culling has started again now that the studio is refocusing their efforts on the game. Part of that refocus means a day one server that takes players all the way back to the beginning of The Culling in March of 2016. During the process of focusing on The Culling again, they’re going to be putting out surveys to their players to find out how they would like to see certain things go. The current survey is about Health Stations.

Source: Steam

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The Darwin Project Goes Free to Play

We first encountered The Darwin Project at PAX East last year and were struck by the game’s unique gameplay mechanics. Since then, the battle royale genre has gotten a lot more crowded, so in the interest of ramping up interest, plans for The Darwin Project free to play have been announced.

darwin project free to play

In the announcement post made to the game’s Steam page, creative director Simon Darveau outlined the pretty simple reason for the switch:

“Lately, members of our community have reported longer queue times and difficulty finding matches in lesser populated servers. To bring in new players and maintain a level of activity that ensures players are able to get the most of out Darwin Project, we’ve decided to make it more accessible by removing the price tag.”

In spite of The Darwin Project’s apparent smaller playerbase, the game still has a few angles that make it unique as Darveau states in the post. Features such as the player role of a Show Director that controls when things happen on the map and viewer interactions with the game during livestreams are part of “a quality experience unlike any other battle royale game out there.”

If you’re among one of those who bought in to The Darwin Project, you’re going to be gifted a number of things in thanks, including legendary equipment sets, axes and bows; every color of jumpsuit in the game’s rainbow; and five Fan Gift boxes. If you’re looking to get a refund instead, however, you can, though several remarks in the comments section of the announcement suggest that there are issues with the refund process. The devs are looking into the matter.

Our Thoughts

We’re not terribly surprised, all things considered; the battle royale market suddenly erupted shortly after The Darwin Project got itself out there and the game appears to have been overshadowed pretty mightily. Here’s hoping that fans of this game will see an uptick in player numbers (and thus see lowered queue times) with this switch.

Source: Steam

Articles Related to The Darwin Project

PAX East 2017: The Darwin Project Hands-On
The Darwin Project Game Page
The MMO Alpha and Beta List

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