The first real threat to Apex Legends and Fortnite‘s reign as the most popular battle royale games has emerged.
Over the last week or so, Call of Duty: Warzone, a free-to-play offshoot of last year’s Modern Warfare, has been enjoying an increasingly large audience on streaming platforms such as Twitch, with content creators flocking to the title to account for the surge in interest. Viewership certainly isn’t synonymous with success, but a correlation exists and, in this case, it’s hard to ignore.
As of writing, Warzone has more than triple the viewer figures (125k as opposed to 40k) of Apex Legends, with Fortnite not far behind on 46k. It’s worth noting, of course, that the buzz around any new release always serves to inflate such numbers, though early signs certainly point to Infinity Ward’s latest creation as being one with lots of staying power.
Career streamer and former CS:GO pro Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek is certainly of a similar mindset, too, having sung Warzone‘s praises in a recent video. “It’s fun. It’s chaotic as f**k – and you get flanked by no sound all the time – but besides that, it’s fun.” Despite pointing out obvious flaws, however, Shroud is willing to give developers the benefit of the doubt, at least for now, due to the sheer technical wizardry on show.
“I give this game the exception because of its scale,” he continues, adding “I don’t give Apex the exception at all. That should not be how it is… but this game? Holy f**k.” Further comparing the two, Shroud notes how Warzone‘s scope is far beyond that of Apex Legends, boasting a much larger map and more players in any given match.
Agree? Disagree? Let us know which battle royale you currently believe to be top dog – and why – in the usual place below!