Meanwhile, Epic Games’ free-to-play take on the idea, Fortnite Battle Royale, has garnered an even larger audience. Fortnite earned a record-setting number of concurrent players in February (breaking a record set by PUBG), and broke the concurrent viewership record on Twitch in March.

Meanwhile, Greene went off to create his own battle royale title, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, in early 2017. Epic Games followed PUBG later in the year with Fortnite: Battle Royale, a free-to-play competitive mode built to complement its co-op zombie survival game. Over time, Fortnite has found an immense following. This is largely due to its free-to-play model, but also because of its unique spin on the form. Using mechanics created for Fortnite’s original mode, now known as Fortnite: Save the World, Fortnite’s Battle Royale adds Minecraft-like building capabilities that players can use to construct their own fortifications.