On March 24, 2017, four North Allegheny seniors found themselves facing the best in the world in an eSports tournament with the chance to win big. Team Secret, comprised of Ratu Ravi, Shane Cenk, Peter Zaccardi, and Alex Eggert, had beaten the best North America had to offer in NetEase Inc.’s Rules of Survival and had traveled to Shanghai, China with the chance to win a $120,000 prize.

Although Team Secret differed vastly from its professional competition, the boys did not feel overwhelmed by the reputation of other teams. And despite only hearing about the competition through the company’s website and team member Shane Cenk, Team Secret was absolutely confident in their ability to battle the competition.

“We were really confident,” Ravi said. “Throughout interviews and prep, we knew that we would be able to perform really well.”

Such an attitude surely contributed to Team Secret’s results, as the boys placed eighth in the competition and won $18,000 in prize money.

Rules of Survival is one of many recent battle royale games to be released in the wake of a now-global trend. Similar to popular apps such as Fortnite and PUBG (standing for Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds), the in-your-pocket Hunger Games app forces up to three-hundred against one another in an all-out battle royale. Players collect gear and weapons in order to eliminate other players while being forced together by an ever-restricting forcefield.

While games such as Fortnite and PUBG have climbed to the top of North American mobile charts, Rules of Survival has been much more popular on Asian servers. The tournament in Shanghai was such an attestation, as more than $500,000 was offered in prize money to fifteen teams before millions of fans.

However with so many similar games appearing on the global scene at once, it is no surprise that Rules of Survival has received criticism for having plagiarized the likes of other mobile games. Recently the game and its company have been sued by the PUBG Corporation for copying and using aspects of PUBG. The 155-page legal complaint claims that NetEase Inc. copied characteristic features from PUBG in an effort to take control of the mobile market. If such a suit were to be successful, NetEase Inc.’s Rules of Survival and sister-game Knives Out would be unavailable to users, as development would cease and servers would be shut down.

For the time being, though, Rules of Survival continues to compete with the most popular battle royal games. Team Secret’s placing eighth on a global scale has certainly proved the game’s worldwide popularity. The boys’ performance also earned them a $18,000 prize money, not including the paid-for cost of travel and accommodations.

Yet in terms of experience, no cash could ever equal the experience. “It was overall an excellent trip, a great learning experience, a trip I’ll never forget,” Ravi said.