The developers of Hi-Rez Studios have announced that their fantasy shooter “Realm Royale” (PC, PS4, Xbox One, Switch) will no longer receive updates. The game has been a significant financial loss from the outset. Realm Royale launched in 2018 as a mix of Fortnite and WoW strongly on Steam, but declined rapidly. The studio head admits to mistakes.
This was the 1st idea for Realm Royale: Realm Royale is a free-to-play shooter for PC, PS4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Hi-Rez had high hopes for the unusual shooter.
But even the basic concept underwent a significant transformation before release. Originally, the game was known as “Paladins Battlegrounds” and was presented in January 2018:
- As in the hero shooter Paladins, players should be able to choose a character from a large pool of champions
- The players would then compete against each other in the established “Battle Royale” format until only one remains.
The special gimmick of Paladins Battlegrounds was that, unlike in Fortnite and PUBG, “everyone plays the same champ”, players had a wide selection.
The game was supposed to be the world’s first mix of “Hero Shooter” and “Battle Royale” and showcase the colorful heroes familiar to players from Paladins.
Paladins Battlegrounds was a clear attempt to develop a spin-off from their own game “Paladins” that would ride the “PUBG” wave, similar to how Fortnite had skillfully done before.
Epic had turned their already failed survival game “Fortnite” into a mega-hit with Fortnite: Battle Royale within 2 months. Hi-Rez apparently wanted to replicate this.
This concept “1st Hero-Shooter with Battle Royale” was hastily developed by Hi-Rez and presented to an audience at an event, but just as quickly it was dead again.
The main game, Paladins, faced strong backlash from fans because of “Paladins Battlegrounds.” Paladins players felt Hi-Rez was ignoring them for a Battle Royale spin-off.
In Paladins Battlegrounds, there were accusations of Pay2Win. The game heated up passions.
In February 2018, the developers then pulled the emergency brake. No, it was not Paladins Battlegrounds. Everything was now different.
This is what Realm Royale became at release: Hi-Rez decided against the idea of having a huge champion pool like in Paladins; instead, players had the choice between 5 classes.
What ultimately came out as “Realm Royale” was a Battle Royale like Fortnite with elements of a fantasy RPG, like WoW:
- Like in Fortnite, the graphics were cartoonish, and the gameplay was a classic Battle Royale
- From WoW, they borrowed elements from fantasy RPGs. Realm Royale features a crafting system and a class system consisting of Warrior, Assassin, Hunter, Mage, and Engineer (who was later removed from the game)
Realm Royale aimed to impress as a “fantasy shooter with RPG elements” and find its niche here.
Initial hype on Steam for Realm Royale faded quickly
Did the game succeed? Yes, indeed. Shortly after release, a total of 3 million players checked out the free game on Steam, but they did not stay.
In June 2018, the game launched with an average of 32,810 players on Steam – but the numbers quickly fell to just 9,000, then 4,000, and ultimately around 1,500 players. From September 2018 onwards, it only sporadically rose.
The release on consoles apparently could not bring noticeable improvement, as we now learn from the studio head.
“In an alternative future, surely a mega-hit”
This is what the developers say now: Stewart Chisam, the CEO of Hi-Rez, addressed the players with a clear message after they complained that it was far too quiet around Realm Royale:
- Realm Royale will continue, but they are most likely not bringing any larger updates anymore
- Hi-Rez will focus on SMITE, Paladins, and Rogue Company
- They love Realm Royale, but the game has never made money. Even in the best months, it lost $100,000 monthly. SMITE makes the same amount in a month as Realm Royale earned in the years 2018 and 2019 combined. Even Rogue Company has already made more revenue than Realm Royale.
The CEO says: In an alternative world, Realm Royale would have become a mega-hit if things had been done differently. They have thought about this long and are now trying to learn from the mistakes.
— Stewart Chisam (@schisam) August 17, 2020
The gaming industry is merciless; most projects fail while some become mega-hits. As a 400-person studio, Hi-Rez is quite large, but only large enough to manage a certain number of projects with the highest possible quality.
The focus is now on SMITE, Paladins, and Rogue Company. They want to concentrate on the essentials.
What does he mean by “mistakes?” On the one hand, he surely means the shitstorm early in 2018 regarding “Pay2Win” cards and the feeling among Paladins players that Hi-Rez was neglecting them.
On the other hand, shortly after release, Realm Royale was labeled by players as “that was poorly patched.” The directional shift from the first concept to the second and the subsequent changes were perhaps simply too much.
Players criticized that the unique elements, such as classes and legendary weapons, were too much pushed into the background. The loot was too heavily dependent on chance. The skills of the classes in Realm Royale played no role; the weapons were too powerful.
In short: Players felt there was too much Fortnite and too little WoW in the mix.
A Twitter user under Chisam’s post says: If only an update had been like players wanted and not the exact opposite, it might have turned out differently.
Anyone who has been a passionate fan of Realm Royale so far or wants to check the game out for the first time can continue to do so. The servers will remain up.
But for those who want to switch while staying true to the “Battle Royale” genre, we show here on MeinMMO some attractive alternatives:
The 10 best battle royale games ranked – From unpopular to popular
