Fortnite has taken the world by storm
It was getting late in Snobby Shores. The storm was coming. They couldn’t hide in the bushes anymore because that’s for noobs. Shotguns in hand, the squad charged forward. Bodies dropped, only fragments of buildings remained, and victory was gained.
Welcome to Fortnite.
For those of you who don’t know what this mysterious “Fortnite” is, it is a multiplayer video game that has taken the world by storm. The survival game dropped in late 2017 by Epic Games and has now become one of the most successful video games ever. There are two different modes: Battle Royale — which includes solos, duos, and squads — and Save The World.
The more popular mode is Battle Royale, which is a gameplay genre that awards victory to the last player standing. The game commences with 100 players dropped from a battle bus into several different locations of their choosing on the Fortnite map. From there, players fight to the death, using weapons they uncover and strategies that they have built up.
Suzanne Nie, a senior who has played Fortnite one time, said, “I played Battle Royale for three hours on a friend’s gaming computer. I mean, it’s fun to play with friends, so I can see why a lot of people like the game.”
It’s no doubt that Fortnite is long past the “fad phase.” It encompasses what gamers value in an unprecedented fashion: free-to-play, fun with friends, welcoming to inexperienced players, and an addictive drive to be the last player standing. The creators listen to what people want and find innovative ways to integrate real-life American culture into the game.
It’s not surprising that the worldwide trend has made a noticeable presence at Carlmont. From Fortnite chat rooms filled with Carlmont students to assembly speaker Scott Backovich’s comment on the relationship between hours spent playing Fornite and the number of girlfriends a guy has, Fortnite’s popularity on and off campus is undeniable.
Sho Takahashi, a senior who plays Fortnite an average of 20 hours a week with his friends, said, “Winning is pretty difficult in Fortnite which is why you want to constantly play so that when you do win, it’s such a great feeling. It’s so satisfying because you are competing against 99 other people and you come out on top.”
Many players have taken to Fortnite because of its welcoming environment to newcomers, which is not the case with many other first-person shooting games. There are also many first-time gamers joining in because it’s free to play.
Nie said, “The highlight about that one time I played Fortnite is when I got one kill from inside a shopping cart.”
Fortnite has also gained so much popularity due to the fact that it allows for cross platforming, a style in which players can play together regardless if they play on phone, computer, or console.
Alex Wong, a sophomore who plays Fortnite on a PS4, said, “The cross-platform style allows friends to answer the question of which platform is the best. It also allows the game to grow with more players being able to play with different people more frequently.”
In August of this year, nearly 80 million people played Fortnite. The game, although free to play, racks in upwards of $300 million a month. Fortnite makes most of its revenue from microtransactions, which are in-game purchases. These purchases, which translate into in-game currency known as “Battle Bucks,” go towards swanky skins and items. Part of why Fortnite has lasted so long is that it is not a “play-to-win” game; players can only buy cosmetics that don’t affect the actual mechanics of the game.
If this revenue seems high, it’s actually not that surprising when taking into account how much players are willing to spend. Wong has spent $25 on in-game purchases; multiply this number, more or less, by millions of Fortnite users, and Fortnite is making some serious bank.
But Fortnite has also made a whole new industry outside the game itself.
Fiverr, an online marketplace for freelance services, now offers several different services to “help you personalize your Fortnite adventure and compliment your gameplay,” as stated on their website. These services include making a Fortnite profile picture, editing gaming montages, being a Fortnite personal coach, and drawing people as Fortnite-themed characters with a service price starting anywhere from $5 to $20.
Fortnite gamers stream their content on YouTube and Twitch, which also earns them money through views, sponsors, and donations. People enjoy watching streamers not only because of their fun personalities but their high skill level.
On September 21 this year, Fortnite streamer Tyler Blevins, better known as his screen name “Ninja,” was the first ever esports gamer to make an appearance on ESPN’s front cover.
Ninja shot to fame when he paired up with rapper Drake, earning the duo 630,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch, shattering the previous record of 388,000. Ninja won Fortnite’s Celebrity Pro-Am, in which he, partnered with DJ Marshmello, came out on top against 49 other celebrity-gamer pairs.
Takahashi said, “It’s a huge deal. It means that we’re finally recognizing esports as a legitimate and professional sport that is on the same level as other sports.”
In the ESPN article featuring Ninja, it cited Ninja’s rise to fame as a result of his diligence and practice: “Pro tip: Don't just play, practice. Ninja competes in about 50 games a day, and he analyzes each and every one. He never gets tired of it, and every loss hits him hard. Hypercompetitive, he makes sure he walks away with at least one win each day. (He averages about 15 and once got 29 in a single day.)”
Ninja’s appearance hits close to home for Takahashi. Along with playing Fortnite, Takahashi spends his time practicing basketball as the captain of the varsity basketball team and MVP-winner last year.
“I mean, there’s some aspect that is natural talent in both basketball and Fortnite. Having basketball IQ is similar to game sense. You can outsmart your opponent even if you’re not as skilled as them. But, after that, a lot of getting good is repetition; the more you play the better you get just like any other sport or activity,” Takahashi said.
All this practice has a nice payoff. Ninja pulls in $500,000 a month.
According to a CNBC article, “The gamer said a lot of his income is derived from Amazon Prime subscribers, who are allowed to donate to his Twitch channel and his 5 million subscribers on YouTube.”
A lot of the money gamers make also come from tournaments. From Oct. 26-28, TwitchCon 2018 is taking place in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. Many game booths will be present, from Black Ops 4 to Overwatch, but Fortnite will have a whole dedicated hall.
This hall will host the Fortnite Battle Royal Fall Skirmish grand finals. Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, launched this competition at the end of September. Throughout the series, some of the world’s top Fortnite gamers and influencers compete for $10 million prize pool.
So next time your squad hops on the Fortnite bus (but let’s be real, it’s basically a blimp) to Snobby Shores, just think about the eclectic group you’re about to fight to the death: maybe there’s one or two multimillionaire Fortnite legends, most definitely a cluster of gaming noobs, probably a handful of failing streamers, and certainly some sleep-deprived friends screaming into each other’s headsets at 2 a.m.
Welcome to Fortnite.
For those of you who don’t know what this mysterious “Fortnite” is, it is a multiplayer video game that has taken the world by storm. The survival game dropped in late 2017 by Epic Games and has now become one of the most successful video games ever. There are two different modes: Battle Royale — which includes solos, duos, and squads — and Save The World.
The more popular mode is Battle Royale, which is a gameplay genre that awards victory to the last player standing. The game commences with 100 players dropped from a battle bus into several different locations of their choosing on the Fortnite map. From there, players fight to the death, using weapons they uncover and strategies that they have built up.
Suzanne Nie, a senior who has played Fortnite one time, said, “I played Battle Royale for three hours on a friend’s gaming computer. I mean, it’s fun to play with friends, so I can see why a lot of people like the game.”
It’s no doubt that Fortnite is long past the “fad phase.” It encompasses what gamers value in an unprecedented fashion: free-to-play, fun with friends, welcoming to inexperienced players, and an addictive drive to be the last player standing. The creators listen to what people want and find innovative ways to integrate real-life American culture into the game.
It’s not surprising that the worldwide trend has made a noticeable presence at Carlmont. From Fortnite chat rooms filled with Carlmont students to assembly speaker Scott Backovich’s comment on the relationship between hours spent playing Fornite and the number of girlfriends a guy has, Fortnite’s popularity on and off campus is undeniable.
Sho Takahashi, a senior who plays Fortnite an average of 20 hours a week with his friends, said, “Winning is pretty difficult in Fortnite which is why you want to constantly play so that when you do win, it’s such a great feeling. It’s so satisfying because you are competing against 99 other people and you come out on top.”
Many players have taken to Fortnite because of its welcoming environment to newcomers, which is not the case with many other first-person shooting games. There are also many first-time gamers joining in because it’s free to play.
Nie said, “The highlight about that one time I played Fortnite is when I got one kill from inside a shopping cart.”
Fortnite has also gained so much popularity due to the fact that it allows for cross platforming, a style in which players can play together regardless if they play on phone, computer, or console.
Alex Wong, a sophomore who plays Fortnite on a PS4, said, “The cross-platform style allows friends to answer the question of which platform is the best. It also allows the game to grow with more players being able to play with different people more frequently.”
In August of this year, nearly 80 million people played Fortnite. The game, although free to play, racks in upwards of $300 million a month. Fortnite makes most of its revenue from microtransactions, which are in-game purchases. These purchases, which translate into in-game currency known as “Battle Bucks,” go towards swanky skins and items. Part of why Fortnite has lasted so long is that it is not a “play-to-win” game; players can only buy cosmetics that don’t affect the actual mechanics of the game.
If this revenue seems high, it’s actually not that surprising when taking into account how much players are willing to spend. Wong has spent $25 on in-game purchases; multiply this number, more or less, by millions of Fortnite users, and Fortnite is making some serious bank.
But Fortnite has also made a whole new industry outside the game itself.
Fiverr, an online marketplace for freelance services, now offers several different services to “help you personalize your Fortnite adventure and compliment your gameplay,” as stated on their website. These services include making a Fortnite profile picture, editing gaming montages, being a Fortnite personal coach, and drawing people as Fortnite-themed characters with a service price starting anywhere from $5 to $20.
Fortnite gamers stream their content on YouTube and Twitch, which also earns them money through views, sponsors, and donations. People enjoy watching streamers not only because of their fun personalities but their high skill level.
On September 21 this year, Fortnite streamer Tyler Blevins, better known as his screen name “Ninja,” was the first ever esports gamer to make an appearance on ESPN’s front cover.
Ninja shot to fame when he paired up with rapper Drake, earning the duo 630,000 concurrent viewers on Twitch, shattering the previous record of 388,000. Ninja won Fortnite’s Celebrity Pro-Am, in which he, partnered with DJ Marshmello, came out on top against 49 other celebrity-gamer pairs.
Takahashi said, “It’s a huge deal. It means that we’re finally recognizing esports as a legitimate and professional sport that is on the same level as other sports.”
In the ESPN article featuring Ninja, it cited Ninja’s rise to fame as a result of his diligence and practice: “Pro tip: Don't just play, practice. Ninja competes in about 50 games a day, and he analyzes each and every one. He never gets tired of it, and every loss hits him hard. Hypercompetitive, he makes sure he walks away with at least one win each day. (He averages about 15 and once got 29 in a single day.)”
Ninja’s appearance hits close to home for Takahashi. Along with playing Fortnite, Takahashi spends his time practicing basketball as the captain of the varsity basketball team and MVP-winner last year.
“I mean, there’s some aspect that is natural talent in both basketball and Fortnite. Having basketball IQ is similar to game sense. You can outsmart your opponent even if you’re not as skilled as them. But, after that, a lot of getting good is repetition; the more you play the better you get just like any other sport or activity,” Takahashi said.
All this practice has a nice payoff. Ninja pulls in $500,000 a month.
According to a CNBC article, “The gamer said a lot of his income is derived from Amazon Prime subscribers, who are allowed to donate to his Twitch channel and his 5 million subscribers on YouTube.”
A lot of the money gamers make also come from tournaments. From Oct. 26-28, TwitchCon 2018 is taking place in the San Jose McEnery Convention Center. Many game booths will be present, from Black Ops 4 to Overwatch, but Fortnite will have a whole dedicated hall.
This hall will host the Fortnite Battle Royal Fall Skirmish grand finals. Epic Games, the creator of Fortnite, launched this competition at the end of September. Throughout the series, some of the world’s top Fortnite gamers and influencers compete for $10 million prize pool.
So next time your squad hops on the Fortnite bus (but let’s be real, it’s basically a blimp) to Snobby Shores, just think about the eclectic group you’re about to fight to the death: maybe there’s one or two multimillionaire Fortnite legends, most definitely a cluster of gaming noobs, probably a handful of failing streamers, and certainly some sleep-deprived friends screaming into each other’s headsets at 2 a.m.