In the past few years, “battle royale” themed games such as “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds”, “Fortress Heroes”, “Call of Duty: Modern Site” and “Apex Legends” have caused quite a stir. However, the latest data shows that players’ interest in this type of game seems to have begun to decline, while the popularity of sandbox games has increased significantly.
according to NewZoo According to the latest survey data released by the team, player participation in “Battle Royale” games began to decline by about 27% between 2024 and 2025. As for “Open World Sandbox” games, there was a significant growth of 36% in play hours.
In terms of play style, battle royale games are highly competitive in nature, and only skilled players have the chance to become the final winner. However, sandbox games focus on open world exploration, freedom, and a huge world. The data this time shows the changes in players’ interest in these two types.
In addition, this report also shows that the popularity of the “shooting game” type will decline by 5% between 2024 and 2025, while the “RPG” type will decline by 1%, and the “adventure” category will increase by 1%. In comparison, the rise and fall of “battle royale” and “sandbox games” are also more obvious.
In addition to the overall increase and decrease ratio, NewZoo also analyzed more detailed data in the report. For example, the number of play hours of “Fortress Heroes”, a popular battle royale game published by Epic Games, fell by 29% during that year, while “Apex Legends” also fell by 24%. In addition, player interest in the Call of Duty series dropped by a full 33%, while playtime for Battlefield and Destiny 2 dropped by 29% and 40% respectively.
On the other hand, sandbox games such as “Minecraft” and “Roblox” have seen significant growth in total play hours, demonstrating the change in players’ interest in game types. Coupled with the recent launch and continued popularity of “Pokémon Pokopia”, the appeal of this type of game is bound to continue to grow this year.
Source: KOCPC Chinese