Is Fortnite Dying?

Is Fortnite Dying?

Ben Westcott, Staff Writer

By Ben Westcott

  Throughout this past summer, Fortnite has been a hot topic among high schoolers. What made the game so popular? Now that the summer is over, what does Fortnite’s future look like?

   Fortnite Battle Royale is a strategical third person free-for-all that takes place on a big map. Players must find weapons, ammunition and other resources and use strategical play styles to kill other opponents. The last player standing wins the game. Fortnite is the latest of three main battle royale games, the others being H1Z1 and Player Unknown Battlegrounds.

  Many unique features of the game attributes to the skyrocket in players among gaming community, professional esports players, and celebreties.  

   Primarily, Fortnite Battle Royale mode was released in July of 2017 as a free to play across all major gaming platforms (Xbox, PS4, PC).

   Alongside this, Fortnite was intentionally designed so that all players are on the same playing field. This means that players cannot buy perks that provide an advantage over other players. Instead, Epic Games makes enormous profits on cosmetic items through micropurchases. Although the game is free, SuperData estimates that Epic Games makes 300 million dollars in revenue per month from Fortnite Battle Royale.

   As of 2017, Fortnite was only available on the three main gaming platforms. Near the beginning of 2018, Epic Games has added Fortnite Battle Royale to iOS devices and the Nintendo Switch in attempts to expand its player base. Also, Epic Games introduced cross platforming on all devices including PS4 and XBOX, but not between the two due to game console competition.

   Finally, Fortnite has found a spot in Esports and Online streaming. Twitch, a popular streaming platform, primarily known for streaming video games has grown a large population in Fortnite streamers. The most successful of them, Tyler Blevins, also known as ‘Ninja’, averages 70,000 viewers per stream, making more than 500,000 dollars per month through twitch partnerships, ad revenue and player donations.

   With a very sudden and unexpected rise in its player base, where is it going from here? Recently, popular Twitch streamers have seen a decline in average views and subscriptions per stream. Also, popular streamers have begun to limit their mature content due to a growing viewer base among younger players. This may suggest that the game’s demographic is transitioning. Alongside this,  a decline can also be attributed to a new school year.

   Students at Reynolds who still play Fortnite have noticed a significant drop in the player base.

   “I’ve noticed that most of my friends play infrequently or don’t play at all anymore,” senior John Powers said.

   As of now, there is no hard evidence that suggests Fortnite has a declining player base due to Epic Games keeping its revenue, and player count private. At this time, its is impossible to say whether Fortnite is “dying” although evidence from Twitch statistics points towards a change in demographic to younger players as well as an overall decline in average views and subscriptions per stream. That being said, the Fortnite demographic may or may not have any relation to a general loss in people watching Fortnite gameplay.

Photo Provided by Creative Commons