Each filtering bag competitive online video games have a new king genre: the Battle Royale, that game system that consists of gathering a good handful of players in an area that will decrease in size with the passing of the minutes and in which we will have to collect weapons and supplies with which to be the last man standing. A few weeks ago I was talking about the reasons for the success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, that "fad" that has already exceeded 15 million copies sold, with more than two million active users at the same time in Steam. Astronomical figures that already represent records for the platform and that show that its snowball effect continues to push strongly.
In that report we reviewed the short history of the genre since its birth as a mod for DayZ, and I told you how PUBG he had managed to prevail over his rivals by gathering the successes of all of them and discarding the mistakes. Well, today we can talk about competition again with a new fighter who has stepped into the ring: the mode Fortnite Battle Royale, and we analyze which of the two games deserves to be crowned champion to date in the battle of PUBG vs Fortnite. Let the Fiftieth Hunger Games begin! No, I couldn't help it.
The legal battle
The launch of the Battle Royale mode of Fortnite It was quite a bombshell in the networks. The first comparative videos began to emerge in which many avid fans of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds they sharpened their spears and drew torches for a new sacrifice. The similarities between both games are more than evident and, therefore, the influence of PUBG on Fortnite, but that does not mean that it is a genre that already existed before the first and will continue to do so after the second. epic Games Fortnite developer, has not wanted to miss the opportunity to exploit the Battle Royale vein that it has dynamited in recent months and has been postulated as a real alternative to its predecessor with an average of more than 20.000 viewers on Twitch, forming part of the top 10 video games of the platform. And that, regardless of who it weighs and given its consistency, is a fact to take into account.
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Audiences have been one of the reasons that raised PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds to what it is today thanks to the aforementioned snowball effect with which content creators conquered the main networks and, therefore, become a good balance on the to measure the weight of both sets. PUBG knew how to adapt the genre of Battle Royale (we analyze the origin of the Battle Royale in this report) for a massive audience, in such a way that fans of any other genre, whether it was an FPS or not, had a reason why to get hooked on it. And that reason, as we said in that other article, is its simplicity. Anyone who sits down and takes two minutes to watch a game of any common streamer on screen will understand the rules in which he moves, just like the newbie who parachutes into survival for the first time. Survive, survive and survive. It has no more mystery.
Fortnite has collected the stray bullets along the way of PUBG and has caused this secondary game mode to have catapulted a franchise that, until then, was practically invisible if we compare it with the numbers they handle today. Some call it a copy, others, however, have left the Russian lands to dedicate themselves body and soul to the new contender.
Both games share the same rules of survival, but they also do it in the development of the games. Plane, parachute, collect weapons and supplies, eliminate enemies and be the last one standing. There are details that have been blatant for Bluehole, PUBG developer, and it is what has led them to consider taking legal action against Epic Games, with whom they would have had a certain relationship in the development of their own game. The main criticism is that, for Bluehole's Chang Han Kim, "Fortnite could be replicating the experience PUBG is known for." But ... isn't PUBG a review of the experience of H1Z1?
I cannot predict how the legal battle will be resolved, but Bluehole has lashed out with too much fear of losing a fan base that was already more than entrenched in its product and that, being a hypothesis, could make them lose more than they have to gain. The crux of the matter lies in the relative youth of the battle royale genre in video games and the limited number of examples to discuss, but one thing is clear: both games bring features that make them particularly fun and addictive, so the growth in titles with the same cut is unstoppable.
Two styles and the same pattern
Beyond the legal disputes over who saw it first, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds y Fortnite they share infinite similarities with slight differences that are not enough to share the same market share. The arrival of PUBG early enough makes it the undisputed king of the genre, being practically unstoppable for many successes that they reap in the Fortnite mode. The latter, however, brings a new vision to the genre that we had not seen to date, contrary to what we have been able to enjoy in the Bluehole video game.
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The cartoon style with which Fortnite has underpinned its graphic section is, probably, the most distinguishable feature and with which some feel more or less identified. We already saw Overwatch regain the grace of Team Fortress in this sense, and the result for Blizzard it has been more than satisfactory. PUBG, on the other side of the ring, remains in the same graphic line as its predecessors with a more realistic style. We cannot look for a winner or a loser in this section, since both meet gracefully for the style they are looking for. Whether the players choose one or the other will depend more on personal tastes than on an objective opinion.
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds dates its launch in the past month of March, while Fortnite has reached the platforms in the month of July. Those months of difference have been key for Epic Games to be able to take advantage of the maturity to which the Bluehole team has transferred the genre to solve the weaknesses of those that occur, and it has been. One of the aspects most criticized by the PUBG community is the arbitrariness of the physics of the characters and vehicles in their relationships with the environment. More than one reader will remember some loss of nerves before a car flying spontaneously, his character stuck in the wrong place or the happy jumps on any self-respecting surface. In Fortnite we have a much more fluid handling that shines in tune with its cartoon design
Fortnite has been able to take advantage of the maturity that the genre has reached thanks to PUBG, and that has allowed them to solve some of the weaknesses that the Bluehole development team faces in the face of the demands of its players. The physics of the characters and the vehicles are some of them. At Battle Royale de PlayerUnknown They are not quite as polished as you would expect, leading to situations in which you lose your nerves. Fortnite, for its part, has a dazzling fluidity in its movements that links with the most differentiating characteristic between the two: the crafting system.
You will be able to cut trees and produce constructions such as stairs with which to reach the highest points of a building, etc. The idea can be developed in an interesting way and probably more advanced players will find ways to turn it to an advantage for every situation, but the truth is that it does not seem to quite fit the genre. As we already said, survival is paramount in Battle Royale, and having enemies to face added to an area that will be exponentially reduced, make crafting elements the last of the concerns.
Regardless, there are plenty of features to lay down the reasons why PUBG is still the market leader. Fortnite loses in terms of addiction, since at the end of each of the games we will not receive any reward; It also does so in the ratio of intensity, since the simplicity of customization of the character and the weaponry encourages a more casual version, if possible, of the Battle Royale de Bluehole. We will not have the opportunity to fly through the air in vehicles, since they are not yet implemented in the game, and we will not feel (at least, a server) that feeling of competition that intoxicates the PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds scoring system.
Conclusion
PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds Is the winner and leader with honors in the market and also in our comparison. The Bluehole team has been able to enhance its video game since launch by listening to the community and providing constant updates that review all the mechanics of weapons, maps and, ultimately, strategies with which to win. The accessories for the weapons, despite being an apparently insignificant detail, provide a plus of customization and possibility to the game that we cannot find in the Fortnite mode. Both use the same Unreal engine, and, despite the fact that Fortnite has an advantage in this section, PUBG offers a much more defined, much stronger and much more intense experience than the Epic Games version. Fortnite has opted to simplify in details where PUBG shines with its own light, and, on the contrary, has dedicated its definition to introducing an original crafting system from which it has not yet been possible to get 100% of the juice.
The months of maturation and the solid fanbase of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds make it a difficult colossus to unseat and even more so if we take a look at all the content that is still to come in future Bluehole updates. The eSport phenomenon has already set its mark and although its establishment as such promises to be a road with many curves, Fortnite has not yet caressed the competition. And that, in these times, is too heavy a drag on the race.
