Fortnite is the hottest game around these days and it is quickly becoming a global phenomenon. The Battle-Royale game is attracting all sorts of people and with its immense rise in popularity, it is almost inevitable for the game to surpass Minecraft as the most played game on the internet.
Fortnite was initially released on Sony’s PlayStation and it quickly became popular. It had a similar vibe to the already popular game PUBG, but this one was free. Not only is Fortnite free, but unlike other online multiplayer games, it also doesn’t need an online subscription for online play. The game initially featured a Battle Royale mode where 100 players would play with each other in a last-man-standing type of match. Soon, more modes got added as the game rose in popularity.
The game has struck peak popularity as the word “Fortnite” beats even the likes of “Bitcoin” in google searches. Last month, the game had over 3.4 million online players in one instance making the game the biggest in the world. Now, according to Epic Games, there are over 45 million Fortnite players around the world. The game, now available on PC, PlayStation 4, Mac and Xbox One, is one of the hottest things of 2018 and it isn’t showing any signs of slowing down.
Apart from being an overall fun game to play with friends, another reason why the game is so popular is that it’s free. Not many good games are free, especially online multiplayer games. The game is often compared to PUBG given how similar both are, so if you get a similar game to PUGB for free, that’s a win-win. Moreover, PUBG is more competitive and has a bit more cheating and hardcore environment to it.
However, Fortnite invites the more casual player which is the majority of the player base. Fortnite also has less cheating issues and has minimal hardware requirements. Even old laptop users can run Fortnite. The cartoonish approach to the game also invites the younger audience to play the game as well, thus you have a game that caters to almost everyone.
The game is so popular now that top streamers such as Ninja and Shroud are playing the game. They also have youtube channels which have shifted most of their content to mostly Fortnite. The game brings a lot of cash to these streamers as they get lots of views. It was reported that Ninja was close to earning $500,000 a month just by streaming Fortnite, those are insane numbers!
Another example of Fortnite’s popularity can be given in the form of Drake. Ninja was joined by none other than the Rapper himself in a stream which broke the record for the most views in a non-tournament stream on Twitch by getting over half a million views at one point. Celebrities joining in on the Fortnite hype speaks volumes about the game’s current popularity.
playing fort nite with @ninja https://t.co/OSFbgcfzaZ
— Drizzy (@Drake) March 15, 2018
However, it seems that not everything is great about Fortnite’s rising popularity as the game seems to be worrying Financial analysts. The general worry is about the game’s rising popularity posing a threat to other multiplayer games, particularly AAA titles. Fortnite definitely creates competition amongst multiplayer games. According to KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Evan Wingren:
“The game is gaining momentum in Western markets, which is likely to impact engagement for all AAA games to some degree. We believe Fortnite is growing the overall gaming TAM [total addressable market], but some cannibalization is likely.”
The rising popularity of Fortnite may hurt other companies, but it provides an incentive for them to improve their quality of games in order to compete. Fortnite, on the other hand, is about to get even bigger as Epic Games have announced the arrival of the game on smartphones. Not only this, but the game will have cross-play between PC, Ps4, and phones enabled thus uniting players from all platforms into one single game.