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.
2017 in video gaming
Top-rated games in 2017 included "", "Super Mario Odyssey", "Persona 5", and "". One of the most influential games of 2017 was "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", which was released in early access for personal computers in March 2017 and by the end of the year had sold 30million units, breaking several concurrent player count records and established the battle royale genre. The highest-grossing game of the year was the mobile game "Honor of Kings", known as "Arena of Valor" internationally. Considerable debate was held over the use of loot boxes in video games and whether they constituted gambling, coming to a head with the release of "Star Wars Battlefront II".