2018 was a fantastic year for online multiplayer games. Talented and committed development teams worked incredibly hard to whisk players away to virtual worlds full of beasties and adventures, giving us new ways to play alongside our friends and have fun.
There were all kinds of different experiences available to us and, with expansion packs, even existing games got a whole lot better. But despite this variation, there were some key trends that emerged with many games embracing certain genres or features that were popular throughout the year.

Battle Royale Games

To say that battle royale games became extremely popular during 2018 would be a polite understatement. In 2017, we saw the breakout success of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds and, then, later that year, Fortnite Battle Royale came onto the scene and catapulted the genre into the mainstream.

But, in 2018, lots of other developers got involved in the rise of the genre with competitors including Knives Out (a melee battle royale title), the winter, ski-resort themed battle royale game of Ring of Elysium, as well as Realm Royale, H1Z1, The Culling, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 which all helped the genre to stay popular.

Cross-Platform Play

In 2018, we also saw cross-platform gameplay take hold. Players were already able to play games between PC and PS4, Xbox One and PC, and even Xbox One and Nintendo Switch, but Sony had refused to budge and would not allow PS4 players to play with those on other consoles.

Pressure from the hundreds of millions of Fortnite players managed to get Sony to change its mind, though, opening the floodgates for players on all platforms to play together. Plus, with Epic Games having opened up its cross-play tech to more studios, in 2019 we could see even more games launch and offer cross-platform play right out of the gate.

Epic Gaming Crossovers

However, 2018 wasn't just the year that players on different platforms were able to play together. Many massive games even launched epic crossover events with other gaming and even other media properties, adding world-famous characters and franchises into their titles.

For example, in May, Fortnite made headlines when it released a very special game mode based on The Avengers. It pits players against Thanos, the antagonist of (then, newly-released movie) Avengers: Infinity War. Monster Hunter World, the RPG and action-adventure game, featured crossovers with Horizon Zero Dawn, Mega Man, Final Fantasy 14, Devil May Cry, and, in 2019, it will launch a crossover with The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt. PUBG Mobile even had a crossover event with Resident Evil 2. Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Nintendo Switch fighting game, is a game full of crossovers with all kinds of franchises like Pokemon, Mario, Kirby, Donkey Kong, Fire Emblem, and Metroid featuring in the game.

The online multiplayer landscape in 2019 looks set to shift even more. Plenty more games are launching with multiplayer features such as Anthem, The Division 2, and Crackdown 3 and they could inspire new trends.

Diesen Artickel einschätzen

What Were 2018's Biggest Trends in Online Multiplayer Games?

Battle Royale Games

Cross-Platform Play

Epic Gaming Crossovers

Mehr Artikel

Beste Spiele

Mehr Spieler