Are party games affecting the battle royale genre?

Battle royale games have been at the top of esports for quite some time. Games like CS: GO and League of Legends reign supreme over many others but as a genre overall, there are not as many popular games like CS: GO and LoL as there are battle royale games.

Fortnite, COD: Warzone, PUBG and Apex Legends are not only battle royale games but are also some of the most popular games in general. Along with those, several developers made battle royale style games to simply cash in on the genre. That’s how popular it became.

Recently, however, party games have become more and more popular. With the release of Fall Guys: Ultimate Knockout, it seems the party game is getting the battle royale treatment. That’s not to say a ton of party games are being released. A lot of already released party games are being picked up and played again. Games like Jackbox and Among Us are seeing higher viewership numbers.

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Party games are blowing up

A recent tweet by FaZe Cizzorz revealed the top games on Twitch at the time of posting. Both Fall Guys and Among Us had way more viewers than Fortnite and COD: Warzone. Above them all, though, was GTA 5.

GTA 5 could certainly be considered a party game, with the fun multiplayer aspects, along with the role-playing servers, making for a really great time.

Party Games >>> Battle Royales???Are party games the new wave?Side note: GTA 6 can come out any time now. pic.twitter.com/nwkem8YUk9

— FaZe Cizzorz (@cizzorz) September 8, 2020

The user's mention of GTA 6 also brings a great point to the surface. GTA 6 is bound to happen sooner rather than later. With GTA 5 coming to the next generation of consoles, GTA 6 will surely follow with a massive player base. That could see several popular battle royale games take a hit. Other than the hardcore professional players, a big new Grand Theft Auto launch could cause a massive hiccup in battle royale viewership.

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Battle royale games aren’t going anywhere

Just like battle royale games, party games are just a fad (Image Credit: Epic Games)

Popular Twitch streamers are just having more fun with party games. Viewers are obviously enjoying it and sticking with their favorite streamers while they play something else. That is not going to last forever. Just like battle royale games, party games are just a fad. The BR fad has just lasted a very long time.

The player population is truly what determines how well a game is doing. Just because Twitch viewership has risen for the party game genre does not mean people have given up on battle royale games. COD: Warzone and Fortnite are still doing great. Fall Guys and Among Us are also doing well for themselves.

At the end of the day, no one is permanently leaving a BR game they are known for playing in favor of a game that is only played for fun with a group of friends.