What do platypuses, flared trousers, and cosmological matter-antimatter asymmetry all have in common? They are either conceptually confusing or outright utterly insane. Much like Ubisoft's relentless pursuit of a battle royale FPS.
Video game publishers of all stripes scrambled response to the battle royale shooter craze that began in 2017 with PUBG, and culminated with the endless success of Fortnite. Since then, EA has manifested Apex Legends to impressive success, although it had to sacrifice Titanfall in order to get it done. Call of Duty fought back with its own Warzone standalone spin off, which is enjoying a renaissance of sorts with the return of its most popular map.
But, that virtually seems to be the limit for the genre. Apex Legends itself has seen a seemingly unstoppable, albeit gradual decline over the past two years, and Call of Duty Warzone suffered too until its most recent update.
Various others have tried and failed to break into the genre. A huge dearth of failed 'royales litter the video gaming graveyard. Some didn't even get out of the gate. Halo's battle royale-like codename "Tatanka" has been killed off, spin off modes from Fallout 76 and Battlefield were shut down, and efforts from smaller teams like the magic-oriented Spellbreak never really got off the ground before closing shop.
Still, that's not stopping good old Ubisoft from giving it another whack.
Ubisoft has become synonymous with failed battle royale titles over the years. At one point, it was reported the firm was developing several battle royale games, and almost none of them saw the light of day. Hyper Scape was the only serious attempt from the company, and it managed just shy of two years before being shut down.
Beyond that, Ubisoft was reportedly developing other battle royales, including one based on Tom Clancy's Ghost Recon and another Hyper Scape-like project called Pathfinder. Both of which, again, were cancelled.
Now, Insider Gaming reports that Ubisoft is building a battle royale codenamed Scout, which is apparently so similar to Apex Legends that "it was once used as the thumbnail for the project." Tom Henderson is incredibly credible when it comes to reporting on the game industry, in particular Ubisoft, so there's no reason to doubt this report.
What I have reason to doubt is Ubisoft's sanity at this point. It's quite clear from the dearth of failed projects in this vein that Ubisoft isn't really equipped to deliver in what has ultimately become a mature and very tough industry.
Ubisoft's troubles became so severe, that they had to split off their most successful IP into a holding consortium with Tencent in order to simply stay afloat. Ubisoft's share price has cratered in recent years, owing to mismanagement, bloat, and a complete dereliction of faith in the company's direction.
I feel like there has been a general backlash to "corporate" shooters and other types of projects in recent years. Bungie's extraction shooter reboot Marathon recently endured some backlash, with players eager to question the motivation for the project's existence. Hyper Scape suffered similar back when it launched too, with potential customers perceiving it to be a cynical and dispassionate service game produced as a result of exec board room mandates. Ubisoft's Call of Duty competitor, XDefiant, also suffered the same, unceremonious fate.
I want to give Ubisoft some credit, though. When it has innovated, it has delivered incredibly well. Rainbow Six Siege, For Honor, and even Skull and Bones receive on-going support despite their comparatively niche audiences. Skull and Bones is getting a huge update that will free players from their ships and add more ground-based (beach based?) combat, which is impressive.
So, perhaps Ubisoft's new "Scout" battle royale will surprise people. Maybe?
What I would like to see is Ubisoft double down on its strengths instead of chase the Fortnite dollars. The Division 2 has a huge opportunity to become the de facto PvE service shooter as Destiny 2's popularity wanes — with a story DLC showcase planned for this month.
What if Ubisoft took the money it was spending on this battle royale nobody asked for and poured it into The Division 2 instead? 🤔
Oh well, I guess we'll never find out. But hey, maybe they'll prove all the doubters wrong this time.
