Fortnite is easily the most influential game to date. With its battle royale release in July 2017, it has grown into arguably the world’s most popular game. Popularity on this scale does not come easy. Fortnite has its ups and downs but continues to shatter the standards set by the industry before its time. With millions of players attending events and falling in love with the game, it pushes Epic to come up with new ideas all the time.
Hologram during the Marshmello Concert // In-game capture by Nicholas Rivera
One of the newest events held by Fortnite was the Marshmello concert. Reportedly pulling over ten million concurrent viewers, Marshmello put on the largest concert ever. This is the largest event to happen in a gaming environment ever and is even being praised higher over the Super Bowl halftime show. The ten-minute set is equipped with lights, holograms and Marshmello narrations that could be heard across Pleasant Park.
Epic has certainly set the standard sky high, but this isn’t the first time they have done so. With in-game events almost every season, Epic is changing the way players experience games. With the rocket launch event, players were in awe as a rocket zoomed across the sky in season 4. Multiple cube events also occurred in game, followed by the final event which gave players leaky lake. These events really bring the community together, so much so the cube was given a name by twitter. “Kevin” was the center of attention as he made his way through the map, transforming it the whole way. Games like PUBG or Call of Duty have never done anything of this caliber.
Unity between Xbox, ps4 and Nintendo switch // Image courtesy of VGR.com
The ability to cross play with players on any platform is the most exciting thing Fortnite has done. With the console war between Xbox and PS4 going on for years, Epic has destroyed that wall. Players on any system can play with each other regardless of the platform friends are on. This means that players on Android, IOS, Switch, Xbox, PS4 and PC can play side-by-side. CRAZY! People say bad things about Fortnite all the time, but no matter how the internet feels, credit is due. Anyone on any device can download Fortnite for free AND play with anyone in the world no matter what system, something no game has ever done before.
Sony came under fire at the high of the cross-platform demand and hesitated greatly. With no intent to make the game cross-platform in the beginning, the community broke them. The tweet below shows what Sony said in response to the cross-platform craze prior to the backlash.
Summer Skirmish Grand Final prize pool // Image courtesy of Fortniteintel.com
With a 2.4 billion dollar profit from micro-transactions, Fortnite continues to show dominance in the battle royale genre. Not only is Fortnite changing the way gamers play, but how gamers live as well. The money Fortnite puts into tournaments is insane, especially into skirmishes. With invite-only tournaments on a weekly basis, players can earn up to 60 thousand dollars a week. After multiple weeks, Skirmishes have a grand final, where the prize pool is even greater.
In the Fortnite Fall Skirmish Grand Finals, Tfue and Cloakzy earned a whopping 400 thousand dollars, plus an additional 110 thousand dollar bonus, according to bleacher report. This kind of money is life changing and gives players hope for a competitive gaming future. Other large stream groups, like TSM, even live in “stream houses” where they all live and stream together under one roof. Myth, Daequan and Hamlinz all stream together on the west coast, just having a great time while they play Fortnite and prepare for tournaments. It is truly amazing to see an esports community flourish like Fortnite has, and we can expect to see more moving forward.
Feature Image Courtesy of rockpapershotgun.com
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