Fortnite Battle Royale
The idea for "Fortnite Battle Royale" arose following the release of the similar battle royale game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", which saw numerous player count records broken throughout 2017. Seeing its rapid growth and commercial success, Epic Games saw the opportunity to create a battle royale mode of their own. Originally released as part of the paid "Fortnite" game, Epic spun out a dedicated version of the game offered as free-to-play funded by microtransactions, sharing in-game currency with the main "Fortnite" game, allowing players to buy or earn cosmetic items to customize their character, as well as completing challenges through a battle pass to earn additional rewards. , the game has seen over 200 million players, and has been estimated to have earned in microtransactions. "Fortnite Battle Royale" has become a cultural phenomenon, with streams of the game achieving record-high viewerships, and with several high-profile celebrities stating their appreciation of the game.
Boss Key Productions
Although "LawBreakers" was received positively following its August 2017 release, it failed to succeed commercially, leading the team to move on to develop a battle royale game instead of supporting "LawBreakers" in the long term. Subsequently, Brussee left Boss Key Productions in December 2017, announcing that he had returned to Epic Games to work on an "exciting secret project". The battle royale game, titled "Radical Heights", was released in April 2018 as a Steam Early Access title, officially dubbed "X-Treme Early Access". The game was received very negatively and, due to its very early state, described as a mere "cash-in" in the light of the popularity of other battle royale games, such as "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds" and "Fortnite Battle Royale".