New York (CNN Business)Loads of new video games released this summer claim to be rivals to Fortnite, the king of online multiplayer games. But few will truly compete.
The market for free, online multiplayer games has exploded, becoming ultra-saturated and tough to make headway in.”Fortnite has now changed the ecosystem and what players are going to gravitate to next,” said Kendall Davis, an adviser at global games fund Kowloon Nights. “This space is a winner-take-all-market.”
Not many of these games have found a sizable fanbase. One game in particular, “Crucible” by Amazon, had to return to a closed testing phase after a dismal fan reception. Amazon declined to be interviewed for this story. Between Fortnite’s latest rivals — Crucible, Valorant, Fall Guys, Rocket Arena and Hyperscape — who is still popular, and who has lost their luster?Read More
Crucible
CrucibleIn May, Amazon released a free-to-play shooter game on PC called “Crucible.” But the game did not get much promotion across the internet, and ultimately the studio announced it would pull the game back into closed beta, which means only people who have already downloaded the game can access it for now.In “Crucible,” you defeat monsters for experience points and work with teammates to secure objectives. It launched with three game modes, including a battle royale mode.”It had so many different modes and it was trying to be all things to all people. And it was also a little bit too safe,” Cassia Curran, an adviser at Wings Interactive, a fund that invests in diverse games, told CNN Business.Only a few dozen players are on “Crucible” at any given time, according to Steam Charts, which pulls data from the PC games platform. This is a tiny number compared to the amount of players on at any given time in blockbuster hits like “Fortnite” and “Valorant.”
Valorant
Valorant”Valorant,” from Riot Games, the makers of “League of Legends,” was released on June 2, and it quickly went on to become the world’s sixth best grossing PC game in June, according to Nielsen’s SuperData, which analyzes the gaming industry. It even edged out Fortnite on PC, but Fortnite was also a top grossing game on console, and Valorant is still only available to play on PC.”Valorant” is set in a first-person point of view and features five-person teams. In the game, players armed with weapons and special abilities must fight to see which team will win the best of 24 rounds of gunfights.Joe Ziegler, game director of “Valorant,” said “the game has definitely taken off at an accelerated pace that I don’t think we could have predicted.” He said unexpected regions — like Thailand and Japan — have found interest in the game.
Hyper Scape
Hyper Scape”Hyper Scape,” from Ubisoft, came out on July 12. Out of all of the games on this list, on paper, it is the most similar to “Fortnite:” both are free-to-play, battle royale games, available on PC and console. That means when it comes to winning fans over, it has one of the toughest battles in persuading gamers that it is not just another “Fortnite” clone.Unlike “Fortnite,” within “Hyper Scape,” players become ghosts when they die, and they can still help out teammates by spotting enemies and calling attention to them.The fan reception to “Hyper Scape” has been more muted. On the release week, the game didn’t go viral on social media. Ubisoft did not share any numbers for how many people are playing the game.
Rocket Arena
Rocket Arena”Rocket Arena” is a multiplayer shooter game unrelated to the mega-popular “Fortnite” — but many called out the art style, font and rapid-fire playing style as similar.Unlike the other games on this list, Rocket Arena isn’t free, coming in at $29.99 to start. And it may have been a flop.Davis, the Kowloon Nights adviser, was quick to point out that the game is now on sale, despite its recent July 14 launch. The price was cut to about $5, although the sale appears to have ended at the time of writing.On Steam, a PC games store, the game hit an all-time peak of 1,102 players, which is very small for a title coming from Electronic Arts, known for making “Star Wars” games and “Battlefield.” The title is notably available on console as well, so those numbers don’t reflect the total player base.The developers declined to be interviewed for this story.
Fall Guys
Fall GuysOne of this year’s most surprising successes has been “Fall Guys,” from indie publisher Devolver Digital which was released on August 4 and is available on PlayStation 4 and Windows. The game hit a peak of 260,000 users as of August 6, developers told CNN Business.”Fall Guys” might be the most whimsical battle royale there is. You play as a jellybean-like creature, trying to make your way through mazes, jumping challenges and other game show like activities to be the very best out of 60 players.
Strikingly, unlike other games out there, such as Amazon’s “Crucible,” “Fall Guys” was released with a single game mode and not much other content. But that approach has worked wonders for the game and the game’s servers have been overwhelmed by the number of people logging on to play. Developers told CNN Business that they will add more content to Fall Guys and improve server bandwidth.”When you launch a mass multiplayer game, one of the things is you just don’t know how many people are going to show up. And you can’t start a game because you need at least 60 people,” said Jeff Tanton, creative director at Mediatonic Games, the studio behind “Fall Guys,” “It seems ridiculous now when you look at the numbers we’ve got.”
Source: edition.cnn.com