- It didn’t take long for the entire genre to boom, and soon every game needed a battle royale mode…
- Free Fire and Free Fire Max have now surpassed a combined $4 billion in lifetime revenue
Get Industry News In Your Inbox…
Sign Up Today
The battle royale genre has existed for years now with hit games have pushing the genre to new heights. Such a shift happened in 2017 as much-loved mods within games such as DayZ and Arma III eventually became a fully-fledged battle royale game: PlayersUnknown’s Battlegrounds.
It didn’t take long for the entire genre to boom, and soon every game needed a battle royale mode… Including Call of Duty, Battlefield, and, of course, Fortnite.
Timed with the genre’s boom was Garena Free Fire, which was released in 2017, focused on mobile, with low-end devices in mind to ensure that the widest possible audience could play the game.
The game proved to be a huge success and in 2021 it became the first battle royale game to be downloaded over one billion times on the Google Play store. In the same year, Garena released Free Fire Max, a graphically superior version of the title for higher-end devices to cover all bases.
Seven years later
While the initial boom of the battle royale genre has slowed, some games have remained staples, one of which is Garena Free Fire, which has just celebrated its seventh anniversary.
“Our goal has always been to serve our players and bring them the most immersive and diversified experiences”
Cindy Chen
“Since the start, our goal has always been to serve our players and bring them the most immersive and diversified experiences.” Cindy Chen, Free Fire’s global marketing lead, tells PocketGamer.biz.
Chen has been part of the Free Fire team since early 2019. As its global marketing lead, Chen oversees all major global campaigns, including coming up with event concepts, driving collaborations with IPs and strategising the look and feel in and outside of the game.
“Over the past seven years, Free Fire has experienced a journey full of exploration and innovation, and every milestone is equally memorable to us. None of this came easily, and we could not have done it without the support of our Free Fire community.”
Chen shared that as Free Fire grows, the team remains committed to producing entertaining content while keeping the game accessible to all players. Plus – fortuitously – the game’s seven-year celebration arrived perfectly timed as Free Fire and Free Fire Max surpassed a combined $4 billion in lifetime revenue.
The original Free Fire game accounted for $3.4 billion of the sum, and the newer Free Fire Max generated $615.7 million.
“We even received our highest store rating on Google Play.”
Cindy Chen
Since the anniversary event kicked off in late June, Chen comments that player feedback had been overwhelmingly positive, exceeding all expectations.
“We even received our highest store rating on Google Play,” says Chen.
Just one more game?
But Free Fire hasn’t been without its struggles over its seven-year lifespan. In 2022, the game, along with over 50 other apps that had links to China, was banned in India.
This came as a significant blow as, up until that point, India had been one of the biggest player bases for the game, ranking third among India’s most downloaded mobile games for 2021. Almost eighteen months later, Garena Free was finally relaunched in India.
Ensuring that the game could endure these troublesome times and maintain its popularity over seven long years is something Chen credits to hard work and a focus on “high-quality content”.
Each quarter, the team aims to include new, diverse events and incorporate widely anticipated gameplay features, such as the recent addition of a first-person shooter mode.
The first campaign Chen led was called ‘Rampage,’ which was initially released in 2019 but, due to popular demand, has been brought back for four years: “Rampage remains one of the player’s most iconic Free Fire events.” Chen explained.
“That same year also marked the year that Free Fire announced its first-ever celebrity collaboration with world-famous DJ Alok.” Says Chen. The partnership with DJ Alok was “a hit among players,” allowing the team to create more campaigns with the DJ on board.
This positive reception then led to greater global collaborations with more celebrities, such as Christiano Ronaldo in 2020, and BTS and Justin Bieber in 2022.
Feedback from the game’s local and regional communities offers the team a better understanding of its players’ preferences, from trending content to other areas of interest.
“Taking these desires into account, combined with the team’s aspirations for the game, we then work on creating relevant and fun experiences. A good example of this would be our annual Booyah Day event, which we have organised for four consecutive years,” says Chen.
With celebrity and player’s favourite bands having tie-ins with the game, the Garena Free Fire team has been focused on making sure the game has a steady stream of events, new content and updates to ensure that returning and new players are engaged with the game.
“Every patch update allows us to deliver fresh content to delight our players. We actively gather feedback after each patch update and aspire to release an even better version the next time around”.
Esports ambitions
Another popular aspect of Garena Free Fire’s seven-year run is its history in esports, with the 2021 World Series, which at the time was the most-watched esports event with 5.4 million peak viewers.
Chen comments that the game’s accessibility is a key factor in its popularity among esports fans. The design enables a wide range of players to access the game; Chen also mentions that the team strives to keep the app size as lightweight as possible.
“This multi-tier esports ecosystem provides aspiring pro players platforms to compete and excel.”
Cindy Chen
Chen tells us that this ease of access allows the game to reach a larger potential player base, which is crucial for esports popularity.
Another key aspect in the growth of the game’s esports following is developing and nurturing local talent through the organisation, from local tournaments all the way to some of the most viewed professional esports competitions across the globe.
“This multi-tier esports ecosystem provides aspiring pro players platforms to compete and excel whoever or wherever they may be.”
Like the game’s stream of updates and content, the esports schedule receives similar treatment. New tournament formats and rules are introduced to keep tournaments fresh for players and viewers, something Chen says is “important for the longevity of an esports title.”
Chen tells us that besides the game’s flagship Free Fire World Series, which is held in Brazil for the global finals, the team has also been working with leading organisations such as ESL and the Esports World Cup Foundation to organise third-party tournaments. Saudi Arabia’s first-ever esports world cup will have a prize pool of $60 million, the largest prize in esports history.
What’s next for Free Fire
Garena Free Fire will continue to release new updates, with Chen telling us that many of the current initiatives are to improve players’ experiences, focusing on reducing loading times and tackling hackers.
“We are also exploring ways to use AI to enhance the player experience.”
Cindy Chen
“We continue to look for ways to deepen user engagement further by developing more social elements. We are also exploring ways to use AI to enhance the player experience.”
Meanwhile Chen tells us that the team are also looking to implement AI voice recognition in the game to detect and combat toxic behaviour.
Outside of in-game updates, there are also goals to combine music, sports, and anime within Free Fire. Garena recently announced a global collaboration with Naruto Shippuden, and Chen tells us there is more to look forward to in the coming months.
