Two of the biggest things to happen in the video game industry in the last couple of years have been battle royale and auto chess, more commonly known as "autobattlers." If anyone has ever wondered what would happen if these two were mashed up in some sort of "autobattler royale," January 30 would be your lucky day. That's because Ubisoft will officially launch its first 100-player autobattler, Might and Magic: Chess Royale.

Heroes and units in "Chess Royale" have unique abilities and factions, drawn from across the Might and Magic universe, and can be upgraded and combined to create "unique synergies" to support different strategies. In between battles, players can spend gold to recruit characters and take advantage of "scouting phases" that allow them to analyze popular team formations and develop counter strategies.

Unfortunately, the Chess Royale announcement does not say much more than that, nor does it give a very clear picture of how the game will actually be played, as seen in a pre-release gameplay video (taken from the mobile version) on YouTube, players seem to fight in quick 1vs1 matches, slowly whittling down the winner until only one remains.

Despite the cumbersome-sounding but unwieldy number of players, brevity seems to be the order of the day: chess royale is "designed for a shorter session experience" than other autobattlers, with matches lasting about 10 minutes: "lose fast, win fast." Ubisoft said.

Might and Magic: Chess Royale is free to play and will be released on January 30.