In the summer of 2025, Clash Royale regained massive popularity among teenagers. While it was already popular due to its uniqueness and playing strategy, the game released new updates this summer that drew players back in, along with popular online streamers who brought eyes back to the game.

“It was very popular in my friend group, and it sounded fun, so I started playing, “  sophomore Tommy Tobin said.

With the increase in the number of updates, the players have criticized the way the game functions now.

“It’s pay to win now, it has, but there are some new cards now that are fun to play,” sophomore Nick Swartwood claimed.

However, the community can balance out the negatives of the new updates. “It’s changed a lot, the community has gotten, I think, at least a bit better to an extent.” Cards are the main thing receiving backlash with the new updates.

“You can buy and upgrade every single card in the game,” Tobin said.

Buying things is a major part of Clash Royale now, from emotes to cards, upgrades, and in-game currency. However, it’s not cheap; the average price for an emote is five dollars.

“I’ve spent probably like $1,015 on Clash Royale,” sophomore Trey Shada said.

The most popular thing to purchase in the game is the emotes. In the game, there’s a total of 173 emotes, some you have to purchase, and some you can get as rewards or by using promo codes on the Supercell website.

“I spend the most on emotes probably,” Tobin said

However, among the many emotes, the most popular one seems to be a pig shaking its butt, which is mostly used when players beat the other opponent by a lot.

“I would have to say my favorite emote is the pig shaking its butt,” Swartwood stated.

Overall, players are looking forward to future updates and what the game can become. They are hopeful that Clash Royale will fix its bugs and start to improve overall.

“I hope they bring back the seasonal shop, it helped a lot of players,” Shada said.