Battle royale games have been all the rage for the last few years, with major games like Fornite and PUBG radically shaking up the games industry, for better or for worse. However, Tetris 99 is often overlooked, even though the battle royale formula lends itself perfectly to Tetris. This may be due to the Tetris 99’s Nintendo Switch exclusivity, but luckily, a new game dubbed Tetris Royale will soon be making its way to mobile devices, hopefully to an even broader audience.
The game is being created by mobile development studio N3twork for IOS and Android as part of a multi-year agreement with the Tetris Company. N3twork didn’t go so far as to release any gameplay or screenshots of the title in action, but it does sound as though it will be similar to Tetris 99 at its core. There will be a 100-player competitive mode, just like almost every other battle royale game, a solo marathon mode, and daily challenges that will support thousands of players. There will also be seasonal leaderboards and challenges, though it’ll be more interesting to see if the game features tournaments, as Tetris 99 has in the past.
The game is set to have a beta later this year, but only in select territories, which N3twork did not announce. The game will likely be similar to Tetris 99 but better suited to smaller displays. It also has the perk of being playable on mobile networks, making it even more portable than Tetris 99.
Pricing will be an interesting factor, as Tetris 99 is available for free to Nintendo Online subscribers, many of whom are using the 12-months free from Twitch Prime to play the game. Being a mobile game means that Tetris Royale will likely be free to download, so they may have to find other ways to monetize, which hopefully won’t be intrusive. N3twork hasn’t confirmed pricing yet though, so it’s possible it won’t feature anything of the sort.
It’ll be interesting to see how Tetris Royale turns out, but it’s nice to see another Tetris game come to mobile. Other games on the platforms have failed to capture what makes the franchise so great, so, hopefully, this one fares better.
Tetris Royale will have a beta later this year on mobile platforms.
