The autumn wind may be a Raider, but fans of Las Vegas’s NFL team haven’t had a real chance to pillage The Strip as part of their football fun thanks to COVID-19. But if they’re battle royale players, they’ll soon get to fight in Vegas with a new game that uses Google Maps to turn places like San Francisco and the Sin City into battlegrounds.
Today, nWay is announcing Battlepalooza, a mobile battle royale game. It launches December 10 for iOS and Android. Now, battle royale ain’t nothing new, be it on mobile, console, or PC. But Google confirms nWay is the first studio to use the Maps platform to put cities into one of these games. The two worked together to develop Battlepalooza.
Battle royale continues to be a strong segment of the mobile gaming market. According to estimates from research firm Sensor Tower, the top 25 battle royale games have brought in $3.9 billion in player spending so far this year on Apple’s App Store and Google Play. This is about 39% more than last year. And this adds to 5.6% of global spending in what Newzoo projects will be a $86.3 billion mobile gaming market by year’s end. So while it’s a crowded genre, games that find large followings can carve out a significant niche in battle royale.
Battlepalooza will launch with Las Vegas, with San Francisco coming after launch. Paris will be the third city. nWay is framing this battle royale around a game show. It also borrows concepts from role-playing games and MOBAs like League of Legends to make the last-player-standing shooter more accessible. It’s also offering a top-down perspective to make it easier to move through The Strip (or any other neighborhood in one of its cities). You choose items, skills, and weapons before the battle begins.
Battles feature up to 24 players, with teams modes of 12-on-12 or 8-on-8-on-8. nWay is signing up players now.
Until then, enjoy the dulcet tones of the late, great John Facenda as he narrates one the best poems ever written about football.
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