Fortnite: Battle Royale copycats are falling out of the sky

The world is going crazy over battle royale games. But when we see Yoshi and Cuphead entering the thunder dome, that's when it will have gone too far.

Claire Reilly Former Principal Video Producer

Claire Reilly was a video host, journalist and producer covering all things space, futurism, science and culture. Whether she's covering breaking news, explaining complex science topics or exploring the weirder sides of tech culture, Claire gets to the heart of why technology matters to everyone. She's been a regular commentator on broadcast news, and in her spare time, she's a cabaret enthusiast, Simpsons aficionado and closet country music lover. She originally hails from Sydney but now calls San Francisco home.

Expertise Space | Futurism | Robotics | Tech Culture | Science and Sci-Tech Credentials

Webby Award Winner (Best Video Host, 2021), Webby Nominee (Podcasts, 2021), Gold Telly (Documentary Series, 2021), Silver Telly (Video Writing, 2021), W3 Award (Best Host, 2020), Australian IT Journalism Awards (Best Journalist, Best News Journalist 2017)

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Claire Reilly

June 14, 2018 9:04 p.m. PT

2 min read

battle-royale-multiverse — Claire Reilly/CNET

The gaming world has just worked out how much you love Fortnite . And it wants in on that sweet, sweet cash cow.

Fortnite was the talk of E3 this week -- it's now officially the biggest console free-to-play game of all time, it just launched on Nintendo's Switch (the fastest-selling console in US history) and it is raking in millions, despite being free to play (gotta love all those in-game purchases and microtransactions!).

So where one succeeds, surely there's room for more games to skydive into the battle royale arena and fight to the death?

But we may have gone too far...

At E3 this past week, we've seen announcements that battle royale is coming to Battlefield 5 and the new Mavericks: Proving Grounds -- even web comic Cyanide & Happiness is getting a BR game.

It's starting to feel like battle royale is the Poochie of the gaming world: a tacked-on extra introduced by mercenary gaming execs trying to capitalise on buzz, but one that will get old for gamers pretty quickly.

Here's a thought: Not every game will get better with battle royale mode. What's next? Would Super Mario be a better game if Yoshi and Wario went mano a mano? Would Portal be less confusing if you dropped in another hundred portal guns? Do we really need to see Kirby hunt down his enemies and end their suffering with the sweet release of death?

And there are worse battle royale games that could come after that. Don't believe me? Check out the video below: