Battle Royale games have exploded in popularity since PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds released on PC and the success of Fortnite: Battle Royale has started a second wave of immense support that even trumps PUBG. The market is fairly crowded and more titles are on the way like Mavericks: Proving Grounds, Dying Light: Bad Blood, Paladins: Battlegrounds. That doesn’t include games like Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Red Dead Redemption 2 and the next Battlefield that are rumoured to have Battle Royale modes.
However, one company that isn’t currently seeking to create its own Battle Royale game is Microsoft. Xbox boss Phil Spencer was asked whether the genre was a hot topic among Microsoft’s first party studios.
Spencer noted that, “Millions are playing BR games right now” and that he didn’t “Want to just build one because others have built them. FNBR [Fortnite: Battle Royale] is massive, PUBG [PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds] is huge, new BR variants being built by some very quality devs, I’d rather support unless we find something special in 1P that’s a different take.”
Which isn’t the worst approach to take. Several current Battle Royale titles like BossKey Productions’ Radical Heights and Daybreak Game Company’s H1Z1: Auto Royale aren’t exactly setting the charts on fire. Plans could change down the line but don’t expect Battle Royale in Halo, Gears of War or Forza Motorsport anytime soon. As the original poster says though, MechAssault Battle Royale would be pretty awesome.
Millions are playing BR games right now. I don't want to just build one because others have built them. FNBR is massive, PUBG is huge, new BR variants being built by some very quality devs, I'd rather support unless we find something special in 1P that's a different take.
— Phil Spencer (@XboxP3) April 29, 2018
