I don’t typically display my nerdiness to world but I guess I can let it out now for this one. I play a few things on console in my spare time and it is something that I have come to enjoy. Never in my life though, have I seen so many people draw to one game as much as they have Fortnite.
Between players on PC, Xbox and PS4 and now a mobile version being released. Fortnite has exploded into something huge. The game itself trends more than President Trump does. Though it continues to be immensely popular, there are still some burning questions in the gaming community. How has Fortnite become so popular? Is it just one of those gaming fads that ultimately fades away? The answer on the popularity is simple while time will tell on how long it can last.
For those who many not know, Fortnite isn’t something that just came out of nowhere and took the gaming world by storm. Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, has paid their dues in getting Fortnite to where it is today. The game started back in 2011 based on shooting zombies and building things to defeat the zombies attacking you. It eventually made its way to console gaming and was played the same way up until PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds made its way onto the scene in 2017. For those who don’t know what PUBG is, it is a online shooter that pits you against 100 other players and you fight to be the last one standing. Many players flocked to it because it was something they had never seen before. Thus, Epic Games released their own version of the “Battle Royal” in September of 2017, that had its own twist to it, by including building of structures and a different pace setting to it.
Fortnite took off from there, and what helped it take off was the fact the game was free compared to having to pay for PUBG. It was also released on consoles at the same time as PC while PUBG was PC only at the time. Most people found Fortnite easy to play and age groups ranging all over the board became attracted to it. Currently Fortnite has well over 45 millions players and even has over 200,000 viewing the game on Twitch(game streaming service). Fortnite also brought in $126 million in revenue this past February alone. Anyone from NFL players to actors and even rapper Drake have gotten in on the madness. Drake and popular Twitch streamer Ninja broke a Twitch record when over 600,000 people tuned into a stream earlier this year.
The biggest question of them all is, will it last? In the last year we have seen Pokemon Go ultimately fade away. Now we have the next new craze in gaming Fortnite and many fans and new players are wondering how much longer the success will last. The good news? Fortnite has been near the top of gaming for the last few months and has lasted in popularity much longer than most before it. With the development of the mobile version of the game it certainly has given it more ground on which to stand. Many believe that if it were to land within the E-sports realm it could give the game another five years or more of dominance. Luckily for fans they continue to update the game regularly and give people what they want as well as something to look forward too.
Eventually we will see someone come up with a new game that will take the gaming world by storm, but for now Fortnite is here to stay and looks to be the main race horse for many years to come.