What is Fortnite and Why is it so Popular?

Fortnite Battle Royale has emerged as one of the most popular games in history. Across all platforms (PC, Xbox, PS4) there are over 40 million players.

So what is it about Fortnite that makes it so popular?

Fortnite is a PvP (player vs player) with 100 players in each game. It offers 3 game modes: solos, duos, or squads. This allows players to either play alone, in pairs, or with up to 3 friends. The game starts off with all of the players packed into a battle bus that flies over the map. You must then coordinate with you squad (or with yourself if you’re in solos) where to land once you jump out. Each player has a glider that helps them safely touch down after the jump.

The map has many different locations such as some of the most popular ones which are called “Tilted Towers”, “Retail Row”, and “Pleasant Park”. The objective of the game, once you land, is to find weapons, shield potions, and health supplies, which will help you fight and eliminate other players. It is also crucial to collect building materials as the game goes on. The three materials in the game are wood, brick, and metal, with wood obviously being the weakest and metal the strongest. Building is very helpful to block shots coming your way from other players, and to build big bases with your friends late in games.

The biggest enemy in the game, however, is the storm. The storm is a circle of toxic gas that slowly engulfs the map and forces players to move in on each other. The storm does different amounts of damage to your character depending on how late in the game it is. It can vary anywhere from 1 HP per second all the way up to 10 HP per second.

Fortnite has become the most talked about game of 2018, and many popular social media outlets such as Barstool Sports and Worldstar have been using clips from the game on their pages. The game has also made some people very popular, such as Twitch streamer Tyler Blevins, better known by his screen name “Ninja”. He streams for many hours each day and is very skilled at the game. Between his twitch prime subscribers, Youtube channel, sponsors, and Twitch donations, Ninja is making upwards of $500k per month simply by playing Fortnite. Other streamers such as TSM_Myth, and CDNThe3rd have seen and explosive amount of growth on their channels.

Although there is currently no professional competitive scene for Fortnite, there are teams that are already being formed for when the competitive scene is developed.

I think that the most important factor in the Popularity of Fortnite is that it is a free game, so anybody can download it. They also offer in game purchases that include skins, dances, gestures, and emotes that players can buy to customize their character.

The Fortnite hype is continuing to grow rapidly, and I don’t see it slowing down any time soon.