Shroud has made a bold battle royale claim — according to the Twitch star, there’s only one king when it comes to the genre, and it isn’t Apex Legends or Warzone. Instead, it’s Epic’s crossover-heavy game, Fortnite.
The gaming world has been caught up in a battle royale storm recently, with dozens of Warzone stars defecting to Apex Legends over Call of Duty hackers.
On top of that, Respawn literally just dropped their game’s latest season, which was chock-a-block full of balance changes, map updates, and a new character — “Seer” — to boot. It looks like Apex Legends has won the ongoing genre war, at least for now, with players abandoning Verdansk in droves.
Michael ‘shroud’ Grzesiek, who has been grinding Apex Legends since early 2019, claims the battle royale debate isn’t that clear-cut, however. He’s been a long-time advocate for Apex Legends, but another game has his eye.
According to the retired CSGO pro, only one modern battle royale can actually stake a claim for being the actual “number one” title in the genre: Fortnite.
“To me, Fortnite’s number one. It’s unique. And Apex Legends is number two. That’s if we’re talking competitive gameplay,” he said. “With Fortnite, you can build.”
The issue, the Twitch star explained, is every battle royale has its matches overshadowed by “third-parties;” when a third squad joins a gunfight late. That includes genre-heavyweights like Apex Legends, Warzone, PUBG, and more.
“That’s the worst aspect of any battle royale… you’re fighting, and poking, poking, then you just get railed from the side,” Shroud said.
“Every battle royale has that, every single one. It’s just the nature of the genre.”
Subscribe to our newsletter for the latest updates on Esports, Gaming and more.
Only one has ever overcome this gameplay loop — Fortnite.
“It’s why Fortnite is a very, very good competitive battle royale,” the Twitch star continued. “When you win fights [in Fortnite] it really is just you and your opponents. Of course [in Apex Legends] you’re going to be ratting it up. You’re always going to ‘rat’ in those kinds of battle royales.
He returned to Fortnite and its building: “It’s amazing for that, because you, the player, get out of those sticky situations. I think that’s really cool.”
“I wish I was better at it,” he laughed. “Or good at all!”
Related segment begins at 15:29 in Shroud’s video below.
This doesn’t mean Shroud is going to shift his Twitch stream over to Fortnite and start cranking 90s on the Isle of the Storm any time soon though. The former CSGO pro has been quite vocal about his love for Apex Legends, despite what he sees as genre shortcomings in Respawn’s battle royale.
The streamer said back on July 24: “My personal favorite battle royale, it’s gotta be Apex Legends. PUBG is number two. Three is Fortnite, then Warzone.”
