
It's a tricky thing to pin down, as there's plenty of debate over what constitutes a battle royale, with many of the rules overlapping with other game modes. A true pedant could technically point to the use of "battel royal" to describe cockfights and fistfights in 17th century England - although even here, the jury seems to be out on whether the term originates from cockfighting or fistfighting. Some will say it was DayZ: Battle Royale, others will highlight earlier deathmatch games like Dyna Blaster.

Ask a dozen different people when the first battle royale emerged, and chances are, you'll get a dozen different answers.
