The last update had no streamers and was shot from the Community Manager's desk. No streamers. No studio. Ryan openly said that the game is on its last leg. If this update doesn't deliver, Brawl Stars will be closed.

In the end, one key decision effectively killed the game: Auto-aim. Though I don't have specific proof, it is the most likely candidate as to why the game has struggled immensely since it was added.

With auto-aim in particular, it goes beyond the fact that it overwhelmingly breaks the competitive balance of the game due to certain characters utilizing auto-aim much more effectively than others. It all comes down to depth, and how the player can feel mastery over that depth.



One could argue that there is a significant amount of depth in Brawl Stars. Between the thousands of character interactions, team-based tactics, different maps and varied modes, there is a lot to learn and even after months you are still learning new things. Especially if new game modes and Brawlers were added at a regular cadence.



One of the most important elements of mastery is the controls. Being able to effectively control your character is, in many ways, half the battle. And stemming from of its massive impact on the amount of depth in the game, it is also the most obvious source of depth, especially for new players.



What auto-aim does, is it takes that source of depth and throws is straight out of the window. A new player who picks up the game runs around and absolutely dominates because they no longer have to aim, which makes the game too easy and too simple to be a competitive eSports title Supercell hoped it to be. Even if they aren't actually winning matches, after just a few games the consistent response from players is "now what?" They feel like they've already mastered the game and are bored of it. A feeling that will not happen to anybody who picks up League of Legends, Fortnite, Clash Royale, or any of the other massively successful titles in the wild.



A+ for the Effort

The team behind Brawl Stars should be proud of the incredibly fun hero brawler they’ve built. At its core, Brawl Stars has simplified multiplayer online battle arena, arguably the most demanding game genre, into a pick-up and play version on touchscreen devices. That, ladies and gentlemen, is a phenomenal feat.

There’s no doubt that Brawl Stars could be a worldwide hit game if launched. If not a sustained hit then a bright rainbow colored shooting star landing somewhere in the top 100. Whether you want to see it as a simplified League of Legends or top-down Overwatch, Brawl Stars has built a strong community out of the gate and showed it can grow by tapping into influencers and streamers.

But the question was never about whether Brawl Stars is a “good game” or not. The question was always if Brawl Stars could become a billion-dollar franchise. Supercell has already four live games and the company’s resources must be stretched thin between running them and having several teams creating new ones. Not to mention the fact that the rise of battle royale games has significantly hurt company’s crown jewel, Clash Royale. Just put yourself in the shoes of one of the Supercell's decision makers: Would you commit a significant portion of your highly limited talent pool to operate a top 50 game? Or would you commit those same resources to developing, marketing and supporting current or future billion-dollar games?

Personally, Brawl Stars influenced my design thinking the most in 2017 and I rooted for the game since day one. But it has been soon a year since the game soft-launched and the improvements, while very substantial, haven’t kept me or my friends playing.

If I had to take a guess, I’d say that Brawl Stars is the most high-profile game to get cut during soft-launch. Afterall, quality is worth killing for.

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