The battle royale genre is a bit of a crowded one right now. Just as Doom did for first-person shooters, and Dark Souls did for action-RPGs, Fortnite has shown just how popular the battle royale genre can be, and just how much money is in it for publishers. Because of Fortnite, PUBG, and a few other 2017 battle royales, the market has now been flooded with pale imitations. While most recent battle royales haven't lasted more than a few months, failing to reach the monumental heights of Fortnite, some have stood their ground, with Call of Duty: Warzone being one of them.

Though it hasn't had a great track record over the last year or so, Call of Duty: Warzone has comfortably taken a spot at the top of the battle royale pyramid, right alongside Fortnite and Apex Legends. And with the announcement of a Call of Duty: Warzone 2, coming with Modern Warfare 2's release later this year, the game is primed to duke it out once again for the top spot. However, there's one other competitor that might rear its head this year: Ghost Recon Frontline.

RELATED: Call Of Duty Warzone 2: 10 Things The Game Needs To Improve

Ghost Recon Frontline is Already Struggling with Warzone Comparisons

ghost recon squad gameplay

Announced in October 2021, Ghost Recon Frontline was not met with the excitement Ubisoft had probably expected. Over the last decade or so, Ubisoft has really dropped the ball of the Ghost Recon franchise. What was once a bold, tactical third-person shooter series that was unafraid to innovate and stand out from the crowd has become another run-of-the-mill open-world Ubisoft franchise, barely standing out from the rest of the publisher's library, let alone from the rest of the video game landscape.

The last few Ghost Recon entries have been flooded with microtransactions and barebones mechanics, with poor visuals that make them feel instantly outdated before they've even hit store shelves. So, with the announcement that the next Ghost Recon is going free-to-play, and will be a battle royale no less, fans of the series weren't all that pleased, especially when Ubisoft confirmed that the game is intended to be a live-service title.

When Ubisoft released the first trailer for Ghost Recon Frontline, fans flocked to YouTube to dislike it, expressing their disappointment and skepticism in the comments section. Ubisoft promptly canceled Ghost Recon Frontline's upcoming alpha test, and although no official reason was given, the likely scenario is that it wanted the discourse to die down before any gameplay was shown.

In January of this year, Ghost Recon Frontline launched its first closed beta. Despite players having to sign an NDA to participate, gameplay footage from the beta still leaked onto the internet, and within mere moments, it had spread like wildfire. Both fans and non-fans alike shared their discontent with the state of the game's visuals and gameplay, with a good portion of critics expressing the opinion that Ghost Recon Frontline simply looked like a watered-down Call of Duty: Warzone.

Where Warzone and Ghost Recon Frontline Differ

ghost-recon-frontline-trailer-shot-helicopter-over-firefight

While it's easy to compare the two free-to-play battle royales, there are some key differences between Call of Duty: Warzone and Ghost Recon Frontline, though they may not be enough to save the Ubisoft franchise from failure if it goes up against the FPS juggernaut. The main difference separating the two games is Ghost Recon Frontline's class-based gameplay. Unlike Warzone, which allows players to build their own classes, Ghost Recon Frontline will provide players with pre-made classes, each with their own unique set of abilities. This could have the potential to make Ghost Recon Frontline a more team-oriented game, which could make it stand out from Warzone 2.

However, the big kicker for Warzone 2 is that it's part of the Call of Duty brand. Whether it's right or not, Call of Duty simply has a bigger presence than Ghost Recon, and that's especially true right now. Modern Warfare 2 is one of the most anticipated games of the year, while Ghost Recon is a franchise that's barely still in the public conscious. If the original Warzone wasn't enough of a reason for fans to get invested in the sequel, then the Call of Duty iconography, with popular maps like Highrise apparently being worked into the new Warzone map, will be more than enough to draw attention away from Ghost Recon Frontline.

Call of Duty: Warzone 2 is in development for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.

MORE: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 Beta Leak Explained