By Shane McAdams

One thing that is very popular at Quincy University is video games. Recently there has been a shift in the video game world. In the past consumers would pay 60 dollars for a video game title, and then pay again for additional downloadable content. That was the way that the video game world operated for quite some time.

Much of that would be challenged with the introduction of battle royal games like Player Unknown Battlegrounds, Fortnite, and Apex Legends.

Battle royal games are games where you are playing either with teammates or solo against a large number of other players. The end goal of a battle royal game (BR for short) is to be the last player alive.

Not only did the style of game change but the way the game developers make more also changed.

Instead of game developers selling copies of their games and making profit that way, they made the games free to play. Anyone with a game console or PC could download these games and play for free. Instead of consumers paying to own the game, they pay for cosmetic upgrades for the game.

These upgrades don’t change the way the game works or give the player any kind of advantage in game. The upgrades only change the way the players avatar and weapons look in the game.

When Fortnite’s battle royal mode was released in September 2017 it took the game just 16 weeks to amass a player base of over 45 million. The game has been growing ever since its release. In March 2019 Fortnite hit a huge milestone with a total of over 250 Million players. With a total player base of roughly 2/3 the American population, it’s safe to call Fortnight a global hit.

However, when you compare Fortnite to Apex Legends, there could be a challenger. When Apex released in February 2019, it amassed a player base of over 50 Million in just four weeks. That’s less than a quarter of the time it took Fortnite to hit the same number.

Apex Legends is definitely nipping at the heels of Fortnite, but what separates the two games?

Fortnite is a 3rd person shooter, where the player views their character as if hovering behind them. Fortnite has the ability for players to play solo, in duos, and squads (four players). Fortnite games start with 100 players dropping from the sky onto an island where they fight for survival.

Weapons and other items can be found around the map or inside loot chests. Weapons do different levels of damage based on what tier they are in (grey, green, blue, purple, and gold).

Apex on the other hand is a 1st person shooter, viewed as if through the characters eyes. Apex Legends currently only supports squads of three. You drop from the sky and pick up weapons and items.

Each weapons comes standard and has the ability to use attachments to upgrade the weapon. These attachments and upgrades are tiered from grey, blue, purple, and gold. Grey being lowest and gold being the best. Players also pick up other items like armor, helmets, backpacks, shields, and grenades.

One of the biggest differences between the two games is building. In Fortnite you have the ability to collect materials and build walls, structures, and platforms to give you an advantage. Apex does not have any kind of building ability. In Fortnite often times the best players are the ones who are skilled at building as well as finding and killing opponents.

While Apex doesn’t have building, it has unique characters with their own special abilities. Many of these abilities can be used to gain the upper hand in a battle. Some of these abilities include speed boost, grapple hooks, and artillery strikes. What Apex lacks in building, it makes up for in movement and character abilities.

Which game do QU students enjoy more?

“Honestly I was super tired of Fortnite. So when I heard about Apex and I first started playing I was really interested. Apex is way faster than Fortnite, in Apex your constantly running, jumping, flying up zip-lines, and flying through the air. I love the character abilities and the gun play in the game. Honestly I don’t think I’m going back to Fortnite any time soon,” said Noah Randall, a QU senior.

Only time will tell if Apex Legends will dethrone Fortnite as the number one Battle Royal game. However, it looks like students are ready for a new game to play, and Apex is that new and fresh game on campus.