Video game development has a lot that goes into it. One of the key things though is about following trends. For if there’s something that gamers like, and developers think they can make/copy that and put their own spin on it to make some extra dollars, they will. Now, the quality usually varies depending on who’s doing it, but the result is the same, they’re following the trend. The current gaming trend right now is Battle Royale. Between PUBG and Fortnite it seems that a lot of people are trying to capture that crowd. Well, except for Rainbow Six Siege.
The popular tactics shooter has been popular for years without a Battle Royale mode, and yet, when Ubisoft did an early April Fool’s joke to say that a Battle Royale mode COULD be coming to the game…people didn’t think it was a joke. So, Ubisoft Community Manager Craig Robinson took to Twitter to lay down the law:
It’s an April fools joke. You need to relax and think about it for like… two seconds. Battle Royale in Rainbow Six Siege? That’s absurd.
While “absurd” may be a bit strong, you do have to see where they are coming from on this. Rainbow Six Siege has been out for almost 3 years now and it’s continuing to grow. Their DLC and Season Pass material have been keeping players invested, and then some. So why would they need to do a Battle Royale mode?
On the game design level, it would likely be a bigger challenge to change the “Squad vs. Squad” gameplay that the title is known for and change it into a 100-man “every player for themselves” situation. And as both PUBG and Fortnite have proven, they’re still fixing bugs on their end, so the gameplay style still hasn’t been perfected.
The point is, though it’s ok to follow the trend, if you already have a style that everyone already loves, you don’t need to change.
