For Blue Mammoth Games’ Brawlhalla, the title since its initial introduction to the world has swelled beyond what many would anticipate for what was labeled a “Super Smash Bros. clone” at the time. As it steadily grew in popularity, by 2018 the Georgia-based developer was acquired by Ubisoft. Soon after, we witnessed a string of collaborations hit the game. The most recent is Nickelodeon’s Avatar: The Last Airbender which took place last fall.
Other titanic events also continued to occur in terms of the competitive scene for Brawlhalla too. In 2021, the prize pool for the 2021 Brawlhalla Esports circuit surpassed more than $1 million. Additionally, even Rectify Esports own Lil Capped & ithrow made some history placing second at the Brawlhalla 2019 World Championship also.
This past week, Brawlhalla has launched the limited-time ‘100 Million Brawlers Event’ to celebrate the newest milestone for the title. In an interview with Blue Mammoth Games, the team reflects on the development of the game which led to the title reaching this new achievement.
It’s quite literally a celebration and very community focused; the content are things that players have requested for a long time. For example, during the event, we have a timed event mission where players can jump into the game, and if they win on a Legend, they unlock the black-and-purple color scheme for that Legend, which the community has been requesting for a really long time.
There’s a little bit of everything for everyone. I don’t want to give away too much, but there’s a sneak peek of something in the celebration for players who are keeping their eyes out. That’s all I’m going to say. […] We couldn’t have reached literally 100 million players without our community,” says Dang. “And to the 100 millionth player, I want to give them a warm welcome to Brawlhalla, and I hope you’re making friends, enjoying the game, and having a fantastic time making lasting bonds that I feel like sometimes only a videogame can create.
Uyen-Anh Dang, Lead Producer
Upon reminiscing on the early days of the game, managing director Zeke Sparkes spoke on the team’s intentions right out of the door. “We kept saying that once we put the game out there, it belongs to the players. So we had to pay attention and listen to what the players were saying, figure out why they’re saying those things, and use that to decide where the game went. We started seeing community organizers right off the bat, so we watched those players and gave them all the support that we could.”
Sparkes does iterate that an understanding on Brawlhalla’s pull was what its community was sharing online. “We realized there were people hanging out in class, doodling the characters we created, just like we did when we were doodling characters of whatever our favorite game was. It created a neat moment where we realized this is something special, and something amazing is happening right now. We always love seeing the fan art that gets made, and when something gets drawn, we’ll share it around the office.”
To get even more on Brawlhalla from its beta, you can read our original interview with Blue Mammoth Games from PAX East 2016. You can read the full interview by heading here.
Did you take part in the 100 million players now for Brawlhalla?
Brawlhalla is out now for Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, PC, Nintendo Switch, Android, and iOS.
Source: Ubisoft
