The Gryphon Gazette

By: Arden X. ‘27

Most Crystal students are already familiar with a rampant scene: a bunch of kids at school, either in the Uplands building or outside at some table, playing mobile video games and screaming at the thrilling feeling of victory or the fuming frustration of defeat. To teachers and other spectators, this display of human passion fits under the stereotype of teenagers just being screenagers. 

Yet the increase of this phenomenon of “screenagers” can be attributed to the revival and comeback of one of the longest-running traditional games of Supercell: Clash Royale.

In SY 2023-2024 and SY 2024-2025, the game that dominated Crystal’s hallways was Brawl Stars, another Supercell game. Brawl Stars was particularly rampant because, especially in game modes such as Brawl Ball, Gem Grab, and Heist, the game requires a lot of teamwork and coordination between 3+ people. Many people saw Brawl Stars as yet another fun activity to strengthen friendship ties and overall just have more fun. But the last 4 months have completely changed the dynamic of mobile gaming at Crystal. A combination of lackluster improvements and seasons in Brawl Stars, combined with some excellent updates in Clash Royale, has shifted the momentum towards Clash Royale in a way that has not been seen since 2017. Let’s unpack this shift in momentum.

Recent Trends

   This is a graph of the number of Google searches for Clash Royale and Brawl Stars since their releases in March 2016 and December 2018, respectively.

The area where Brawl Stars reached huge popularity in 2024 was the time when Supercell released Starr Drops and Hypercharges, as well as making Brawl Pass attainable through gems. These phenomenal updates made the game much more engaging to teenagers, and resulted in success for Supercell, which reported a $67 million profit in the peak months. 

Yet we see that in the last 6 or so months, Brawl Stars has been falling off a cliff, and the good ol’ Clash Royale rose to dominance once again. This time, however, the rise has been even bigger than Brawl Stars, with Supercell reporting a $77 million profit in peak months. 

Why Has Clash Risen from the Ashes?

If there were two answers, it would be the updates and not pay-to-win. 

Supercell revamped and improved traditional aspects of the game, such as eliminating chests and replacing them with a lucky drop system. This significantly increased player rewards and incentivized players to play more games rather than just play enough games to fill up the 4 chest slots. Another effect was that it minimized the benefits of Pass Royale. There was a smaller disparity in rewards between pay-to-win players and free-to-play players, so progress in the game was more attainable to regular players. 

In addition, Supercell revamped Ladder, expanding the arenas to 10,000 trophies to give players more breathing room and separating the good players from the elite players, and creating more equal arenas of competitiveness. 

But it wasn’t just improving old aspects. The introduction of merge tactics provided the final umph in Clash’s comeback. Merge tactics made Clash Royale more than just the traditional 1v1 Clash. It was a break from the old order, a new gamemode for players to try out, and a revolutionary concept that elicited raving reviews from longtime players. 

What This Means for Crystal Students

To many Crystal students, Clash Royale brings out a feeling of nostalgia, of the good old days when we 9-year-olds, all in 2nd grade, would go home, take dad’s phone, and play Clash Royale. Sure, it drained your dad’s phone battery and prohibited him from taking that important business call, but in a world where we’re caught up worrying about college, AP credits, and that pesky English essay, it’s difficult to find things that bring us back in time. 

The revival of Clash Royale isn’t just gonna be the next new thing that lets us procrastinate; it’s a rekindling of old memories, the making of new ones, and new power dynamics in the video games at Crystal. 

Will this revival last more than 1 year? Probably not. And it’s probably a waste of your time. But then again, anything can be a waste of your time if you want it to be! So for now, all we can do is to live with the rise of Clash and enjoy the moment.