From mod to the world
Brendan Greene made mods for ARMA 2 and H1Z1 in which players fought to survive. In 2017 PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds (PUBG) came out and became a phenomenon. A few months later Epic Games added a free battle royale mode to Fortnite.
Why it works
- Every match is different because the drop point and circle change.
- Even a weaker player can get lucky and win.
- Fortnite is free and earns from skins and the battle pass, a model most games adopted.
Others
Apex Legends (2019), Call of Duty: Warzone (2020) and many mobile games. The battle pass model later spread to games such as Rainbow Six Siege.