Summary
The battle royale genre is one of the biggest genres in gaming right now, and every studio seems to want a slice of the market. While many games try to emulategenre kingpins likeFortnite, other titles attempt to go their own way. This is exactly what Mediatonic’sFall Guysattempted to do, and it seems to have paid off immensely for the studio. Not only did it garner strong reviews, but it quickly obtained a massive fanbase that other games only dream about.
It seems likeFall Guysis here to stay, but most online games do not last forever. Mediatonic’s free-to-play battle royale is likely no different as its content cycle shifts and players begin turning to other things. It is a natural cycle, and the increasingly critical fanbase could mean thatFall Guysonly has so many days left. While that all remains to be seen, this cute title will have to come to a close eventually.
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Fall Guys' Popularity May Already Be Dwindling
Fall Guyscame out of nowherewhen it launched on PS4 and PC in 2020. The game was unlike anything the battle royale genre had seen before, and no one has really been able to replicate it since. Players fell in love with its cute art style, wild mini-games, and satisfying gameplay loop. It is one of the few games that players can pick up and put down whenever they want, and Mediatonic has done a great job at consistently updating it with even more exciting content to explore.
Fall Guyswould end up receiving pretty positive reviews at launch and would go on to become a massive hit. It would sell more than 10 million copies when it first launched and over 50 million players when it went free-to-play in 2022.Epic Games would end up acquiring Mediatonicin 2021, and the studio would bring the game to an entirely new audience with its Xbox and next-gen release. It feels like there was no stopping this little game, but this success may not last forever.
Just like with most live-service games, player counts fluctuate immensely between content updates. These content updates are often tied to seasons and seasonal battle passes, and once a player finishes their battle pass, they seldom have a reason to log back in until the next one besides fun with the game that isn’t tied to progression or rewards. This is the model thatFall Guyshas used for 10 seasons now, but recent updates have proven a bit controversial.
Some of the remaining players have felt likeMediatonic has made some aggravating changesthat have hurt the game. For starters, players have been complaining about round variety, bugs, boring seasons, and the prices of the in-game cosmetics. The decision to vault various rounds was also very controversial as players believed it would limit the game’s replayability considerably. While controversial changes are common for live service games, constantly making these types of decisions can result in players just leaving the game for good.
While the game is far from dead,Fall Guysis definitely not the sensation it once was. The fanbase has become increasingly critical of the game, it does not seem to dominate social media like it used to, and the game has been around for a little over four years now. Eventually games just die off, andFall Guysmay be headed in that direction. Only time will tell, but it does seem like Mediatonic wants to avoid that possibility.
Mediatonic announced earlier this year that it has plans to move away from the seasonal model and adopt a more consistent update schedule. Couple that with the addition of numerous new creative tools and crossovers, and it seems like the game may have a bright future. The studio wantsFall Guysto be this chaotic playground that players keep coming back to, and hopefully it can achieve that.
Fall Guysis available to play on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
