RPGs Battle Royal Trends
Image: Push Square

Remember when PUBG came around and every multiplayer project seemed to shift towards the live service battle royale model? Well, that trend's been ongoing for almost a decade at this point, but a new report suggests that the obsession may finally be dying out.

Meanwhile, RPGs are apparently on the rise — but that's obviously a much broader genre to consider.

This is all according to research firm Newzoo (as per IGN), which tracks player data across consoles and PC in every region but China and India. The report states that the overall time players are spending in battle royale titles is in decline, steadily dropping from 19% in 2021 to 12% in 2024.

However, there's an interesting wrinkle to these findings in that Fortnite has actually grown in popularity across the same period of time. Epic Games' juggernaut was responsible for 77% of battle royale playtime last year — a huge leap from its 43% share in 2021.

The suggestion, then, is that the competition simply can't keep up with Fortnite; the colourful shooter is absolutely dominating the market — and potentially stifling its growth in the process.

Back to RPGs, around 13% of overall playtime is commanded by the genre, up from 9% in 2021. The report says that the success of titles like Baldur's Gate 3, Diablo 4, and Hogwarts Legacy have been a big factor, alongside immensely popular gacha games such as Honkai; Star Rail. Again, 'RPG' is a broad genre these days.

An interesting report, then, although to be fair, you probably could have guessed at the direction of these trends just by keeping up with the headlines.

After all, how many live service projects have we seen bite the dust over the last few years? And how many success stories have we seen from more 'hardcore' releases? Don't get us wrong, the largely free-to-play, live service market still dwarfs the rest of the video game sphere, but there does seem to be a gradual shift in play — especially in terms of audience perception.

What's your take on all this? Become the finest armchair analyst in the comments section below.

[source ign.com]