Realm Royale loses 97% of its players in two months
Steam user reviews suggest balancing issues lie at the heart of Hi-Rez Studios' battle royale decline
Having risen to a 105,000 concurrent players shortly after arriving on Early Access, Realm Royale has since lost 97 per cent of its regular audience.
According to video game statistics platform GitHyp, the popularity of Hi-Rez Studios' class-based battle royale fell dramatically to around 3,000 concurrent players in the space of two months.
Although the developer has enjoyed success with its first-person MOBA Paladins, which sits comfortably in the top 25 most played games on Steam, its foray into battle royale has been more trying.
Despite being initially well received -- spiking up from 4,500 concurrent players to its six figure peak following a signal boost from popular steamers -- the Steam user review section paints a picture of a polished, but ultimately unbalanced game.
This is reflected by the streaming numbers, GitHyp reports; having previously enjoyed anywhere between 50,000 and 150,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch in June, Realm Royale now typically fails to peak beyond a few thousand.
Streaming numbers do spike periodically however, with the weekly tournament run by Skillshot Media in partnership with YouTuber Keemstar.
Hi-Rez has revealed plans to bring Realm Royale to consoles and is currently offering beta sign-ups for both Xbox One and PlayStation 4.