While PUBG and Fortnite were the two major players straight out of the gate, rocketing the battle royale genre to extreme popularity, because of the success of both, it seemed obvious that more competitors weren’t far behind.
And it’s not a huge surprise to me that the studio that tried to take on Overwatch has now pivoted to set its sights on Fortnite, as the winds have shifted. Hopefully they’ll be met with more success this time around.
Yes, that’s right, Cliff Bleszinski’s Boss Key Productions, developer of hero shooter LawBreakers, is now about to put a new battle royale game called Radical Heights into Steam Early Access…tomorrow, April 10th. A few days ago, Boss Key published a message that it was leaving LawBreakers on life support as it was turning to other projects, though I’m not sure many people guessed that they already had a battle royale title waiting in the wings for launch. Here’s how Radical Heights is described:
“Welcome to RADICAL HEIGHTS, a free *X-TREME Early Access* BATTLE ROYALE shooter. Partake in high-stakes battle royale gunplay in a sunny SoCal dome as contestants drive-by on BMX bikes or stalk other contestants from the shadows in search for weapons and prizes…but also CASH that you can bank – win or lose! Whether you spend that cash on righteous customization in your personal prize room or pull it from an ATM to purchase weapons early in the next game — building a wealth of cash is as important as taking down the competition in this irreverent 80s-themed action game show where everyone wants to be rich and famous!”
I will admit that making the setting of a battle royale game an ‘80s game show is not a bad idea, but of course it all depends on how it works in practice, and how many people are willing to give it a shot. There seems to be a strange amount of focus on…BMX gameplay, which is certainly something you don’t see in PUBG or Fortnite, but definitely seems like an odd focus in a game like this. The gameplay trailer makes it look no less bizarre, and the entire thing seems…a bit clunky, though obviously I’ll wait to get my hands on it.
The animation style is clearly hewing close to the cartoony nature of Fortnite rather than the grit of PUBG, and though it has an ‘80s aesthetic is hasn’t gone way over the top like you’d see in say, Far Cry: Blood Dragon. Unlike LawBreakers, there doesn’t seem to be an overabundance of “attitude” here, or really much personality outside of the ‘80s setting itself, but we’ll see. My first impression is that it reminds me a bit of something you might see as a GTA Online or Saints Row minigame.
I don’t think it’s unwarranted to worry about the fate of this game, both given what happened to LawBreakers, and the current state of Fortnite.
Last week, I wrote an article that said that Fortnite was already king of the mountain, and it was going to be tough for future competitors to unseat it, if not impossible, given how well established it is at this point in pop culture, and how much time and money players have sunk into the game already. That was a warning against future competitors in the next few months, but it seems possibly even more ill-advised to debut your battle royale title at a moment where Fortnite could literally not be more popular.
It’s also a bit troubling to see Boss Key make a second run at a huge property like this after smashing into the wall that was Overwatch not that long ago. LawBreakers was a high-profile failure, and it would be devastating if Radical Heights met the same fate while hastily trying to take on an even more daunting rival.
The question I have to ask about Radical Heights is what it will offer that Fortnite doesn’t. From what I can tell, you’re trading building for BMX riding, and I’m not sure that’s all that much of a draw. I think there’s room to innovate in the battle royale space, and I’m not saying everyone should just throw up their hands and let Fortnite rule the world, but if you come at the king, you better not miss. Or at least you better be able to carve out a sizable niche to call your own, which in this market, is still a tough prospect.
We should know more past trailers and screenshots tomorrow when Radical Heights launches. As an Early Access game it will be far from finished, but that’s essentially how all games exist in this genre now. LawBreakers was sort of a heartbreaking saga, and I hope that Boss Key has better luck with Radical Heights, even if I’m nervous about its prospects. We’ll have to wait and see.
Link https://www.google.co.id/amp/s/www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2018/04/09/lawbreakers-studio-lays-siege-to-fortnite-with-new-free-battle-royale-game-radical-heights/amp/