Players are able to choose from a large selection of unlockable characters, called "Brawlers", whom each have different abilities and playstyles.

Initially introduced in a live-action short film,[6] in-game surveillance footage showed that Starr Park closed in 1995 due to magic purple gems that granted several staff and visitors in Starr Park immortality, but in the ensuing chaos, gave life to inanimate objects and mutated plant life and animals[7] In Brawl Stars, players battle against other players or AI opponents in multiple game modes.

Brawl Stars has a variety of different game modes that players can choose from, each having a different objective and maps.

Players can invite friends to play with them up to the maximum team size of a game mode.

When players compete in battles, they earn XP (formerly known as Tokens) to progress along the Brawl Pass and unlock tiers with various rewards.

Progress is made through Credits, a currency obtained in the Trophy Road, Mastery paths, Starr Drops and Brawl Pass.

Skins change a brawler's model and animations,[23] and may come with pins for in-game communication, player icons (profile pictures) and sprays.

[26][27] The first edition, known as the Brawl Stars World Championship, was held on November 15 and 16, 2019, at the Busan Exhibition and Convention Center in South Korea.

Eight teams participated in the World Finals, which were originally to take place in Katowice, Poland, but were moved online due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

[31] Supercell set out to develop a team-based game similar to League of Legends and Overwatch.

According to Frank Keienburg, General Manager of Supercell, "Our focus was on retaining a lot of depth while stripping away all the fluff".

[36] The soft launch would last a total of 522 days, during which internally it was doubted whether or not the game would ever actually see a general release.

[32] Frank Keienburg attributes the difficult beta period to the developers working in a new genre where they "weren't sure how to interpret its success".

[33] The game soft-launched in Finland, Sweden, Denmark, Norway, Ireland, Singapore, Hong Kong, Macao and Malaysia for iOS on January 19, 2018.

[37] On June 9, 2020, Brawl Stars was released in mainland China, with the corresponding changes to accommodate to Chinese regulations by Tencent Games.

In 2020, the game offered a PSG skin for Shelly for players who won nine matches and lost four or fewer times.

The game partnered up with SpongeBob SquarePants and John Cena in 2024 to create official merchandise, new skins and pins for Brawlers based on various SpongeBob characters, new game modes named Jellyfishing and Trio Showdown, and a John Cena event.

[46] The game partnered with Toy Story in December 2024 to release a limited timed playable Buzz Lightyear brawler, skins based on Buzz Lightyear, Woody, Bo Peep and Jessie, and Pizza Planet-based game modes.

He said that Showdown "doesn't capture the real madness of the genre, and there's a distinct lack of tension since you can pretty much see everyone on the map and what they're up to".

He concluded in disappointment because the game did not seem like "the huge step forward for multiplayer mobile action that a lot of us were hoping for.

She praised the game's graphics and the developer's implementation of the progression system to encourage players to play again, as well as the quick matchmaking.

She also highlighted that the frequent connection issues and unbalanced teams made the experience of playing the game less enjoyable.