Activision eyeballs the Battle Royale genre

Battle Royale is the big genre right now. PUBG leads the way, but Fortnite BR is coming on strong and there are plenty of others looking to hop on the bandwagon: New projects like Darwin Project and SOS, and updates to existing games including Paladins, Dying Light, and maybe even CS:GO. And it sounds like shooter behemoth Activision may be interested in cutting a slice of that pie for itself, too.

As reported on the Dow Jones Newswire (via Twitter), investment firm Oppenheimer has boosted its price target for Activision Blizzard shares from $70 to $87 and said that it could go even higher on the strength of upcoming mobile releases and further Overwatch League growth. But the reason that's of particular relevance to our interests is that Activision is also "keenly aware" of the success that other publishers have had with Battle Royale games, and is apparently making some soft noises about taking a run at it.

"Management reminded investors that the company is a faster follower," Oppenheimer said.

Activision has a number of avenues at its disposal if it chooses to pursue the Battle Royale action. The Call of Duty series is an obvious choice; Overwatch might be trickier because of its relatively limited cast of characters, although 27 could be enough to get the job done, and that number will obviously continue to grow.

The best choice, unless it wants to put out a whole new Battle Royale game, might be Destiny 2: Its multiplayer qualities are proven, and to be blunt it's not like it's setting the world on fire as-is. Destiny 2 Battle Royale might be just what's needed to turn that ship around.

Andy has been gaming on PCs from the very beginning, starting as a youngster with text adventures and primitive action games on a cassette-based TRS80. From there he graduated to the glory days of Sierra Online adventures and Microprose sims, ran a local BBS, learned how to build PCs, and developed a longstanding love of RPGs, immersive sims, and shooters. He began writing videogame news in 2007 for The Escapist and somehow managed to avoid getting fired until 2014, when he joined the storied ranks of PC Gamer. He covers all aspects of the industry, from new game announcements and patch notes to legal disputes, Twitch beefs, esports, and Henry Cavill. Lots of Henry Cavill.