Fortnite
Fortnite
This is why Fortnite was removed from Google & Apple app stores
Steven Rondina
Three of the biggest companies in gaming are facing off in a battle that could change the entire industry. Apple and Google are engaged in a fight with Fortnite publisher Epic Games that has seen the wildly popular battle royale banned from app stores. This is leading to legal action that could see Apple and Google’s strangleholds over mobile developers permanently cemented, or a redefinition of how in-app purchases work. …
Fortnite
Fortnite player hacks into FNCS finals, criticizes anti-cheat
Olivia Richman
A Fortnite player using an aimbot hack qualified for the Fortnite Championship Series Chapter 2 Season 3 finals. The North American player, nicknamed Kona, claimed they made their cheating as obvious as possible to prove just how bad Fortnite’s anti-cheat is. They even streamed themselves using the aimbot on Twitch during the tournament. When asked about using the hacks, Kona stated during their stream that they were “sacrificing the account” …
Fortnite
Tfue reveals the reason why he hasn’t been streaming Fortnite
Olivia Richman
Turner “Tfue” Tenney’s fans have noticed that the popular streamer has been playing a lot of Call of Duty: Warzone, and not much Fortnite. With over 8.85 million followers, Tfue has become quite famous on Twitch for his Fortnite streams. So a lot of his fans have been wondering why he’s decided to start playing a first-person shooter title instead of the popular third-person battle royale, especially when it was …
News
Ninja returns to stream on Twitch, but is he back for good?
Olivia Richman
Ever since Mixer shut down, Tyler “Ninja” Blevin’s fans have been wondering what the Fortnite superstar was going to do next. Ninja has been busy since Mixer’s shutdown. The streamer revealed that he was pursuing a career in Hollywood. His fans also appreciated Ninja’s new shoe line with Adidas. But they still had a burning question: where was Ninja going to stream now? Would he return to streaming at all? …
Fortnite
Epic Games reveals new Fortnite bug fixes in update v13.40
Olivia Richman
Epic is using their latest update, v13.40, to address a lot of bugs that have been bothering Fortnite players. Fortnite developers outlined the upcoming changes in their public Trello board of “community issues.” There are four battle royale-related bugs that are marked as “fixed in future game update” on the board. One such bug is that a few challenges may not appear to count if a player is in duos …
Fortnite
Newbee accused of stealing over $100,000 from ex Fortnite pros
Olivia Richman
The Fortnite World Cup was one of the biggest esports events in history. It had over 2.3 million viewers and the largest prize pool in the entirety of the industry. But not every participant received their chunk of the event’s promised earnings. Chinese esports organization Newbee has been accused of stealing over $100,000 of prize money from the two players the organization had compete at the Fortnite World Cup in …
Fortnite
Summer Splash hits Fortnite with fresh skins and LTMs
Jared Wynne
Fortnite has announced a new summer-long event titled “Summer Splash,” which will run throughout the rest of Season 3 and will bring new cosmetics and LTMs to the game. Fortnite held a similar event in 2019, “14 Days Of Summer,” which brought new challenges to unlock cosmetics. This produced the famous “Deep End” emote. The event also saw new summer skins such as Summer Drift and Beach Bomber. The same …
Fortnite
Tfue’s FaZe Clan lawsuit dismissed by California judge
Olivia Richman
Fortnite star Turner “Tfue” Tenney will have to continue his battle with FaZe Clan outside of California after a judge from the state dismissed his lawsuit. When Tfue’s legal team revealed details of his contract with the organization, fans were horrified by its apparent one-sidedness of the deal in favor of FaZe. It sparked a debate in the esports industry about the normalcy of unfair and predatory contracts between professional …
Ninja goes to YouTube Gaming for first new stream after Mixer
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is streaming on YouTube, but his fans shouldn’t uninstall Twitch from their phone quite yet. According to esports insider Rod “Slasher” Breslau, the popular streamer is still a streaming free agent. This follows a broadcast on YouTube Gaming. According to Breslau, the stream was a one-off appearance for the time being. Ninja is not under contract with YouTube and could appear anywhere he pleases at any time. …
Did Ninja leak his move to YouTube Gaming after Mixer’s death?
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins’ stint as a streaming free agent might be coming to an end in the near future. On July 7, Ninja’s YouTube channel had a live stream scheduled to take place later in the day. The listing was later removed from the page, leaving many to believe that Ninja had unintentionally let slip a test run of a YouTube Gaming stream. This would likely mean that Ninja is …
Fortnite to host event discussing racism in America on July 4
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Fortnite is set to go in a very different direction for its next live event. While Fortnite events are often theatrical in nature, treating fans to things like mech battles and musical concerts, the next one will be much more serious. Fortnite is presenting a discussion on race in America entitled “We The People.” The event is being held in conjunction with OPUS UNITED, hosted by Van Jones. Jemele Hill, …
Mixer shutting down soon, shroud and Ninja can stream on Twitch
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Microsoft-owned streaming platform Mixer is officially done. The Verge interviewed Microsoft gaming head Phil Spencer, who stated that the platform will be folded on July 22. The company is now looking to pin its hopes on a partnership with Facebook Gaming, which injected new life into its own efforts in the realm of video game content. The news was then confirmed on Twitter by Mixer. Mixer Partners, streamers, and community …
The Fortnite player count continues to grow in 2020
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Ever since Fortnite was released in July 2017, the game’s immense playerbase has only continued to increase. With colorful animation, fun cosmetics, and an addictive battle royale mode, Fortnite has become one of the most popular video games in recent years thanks to its constant presence in mainstream media. The push to make Fortnite mainstream has been successful due to such personalities as streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. The blue-haired Fortnite …
Fortnite Season 3 map could be underwater with buildings destroyed
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Fortnite’s Chapter 2 Season 3 is coming June 17, and data miners have already started digging around for clues and potential leaks. Fortnite Season 2 was originally scheduled to conclude at the end of April, but Epic Games revealed they were extending its duration as Season 3 was being delayed. Season 2 was then set to end on June 4, but that also didn’t come to fruition and Season 3 …
Ninja calls out Jake Paul for “jackass” antics after protest arrest
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Fortnite star Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is caught up in another beef, this time with YouTube personality Jake Paul. The Mixer streamer recently called out Paul for participating in illegal activities during a protest in Scottsdale, Arizona. In the video, Paul is surrounded by protesters who are throwing objects at nearby buildings and setting off fireworks. pic.twitter.com/eEPdflGLKW I don’t actually know that he was “looting” per say but this footage is …
Ninja and Tfue beef over Mixer and Twitch stream viewer numbers
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
To the surprise of absolutely no one in the Fortnite community, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins and Turner “Tfue” Tenney are back to arguing. Recently, Tfue has used Ninja’s move to Mixer as ammunition in their ongoing feud. While Ninja has easily become Mixer’s top streamer, his view counts haven’t ever reached the numbers he pulled on Twitch, most likely due to Mixer’s smaller userbase. After getting word that Tfue was talking …
Shroud goes off on aim assist being wrong in competitive games
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Controller versus keyboard and mouse is an ongoing debate in esports that often gets competitive players heated. Fortnite is the most outspoken community when it comes to this issue, though crossplay is also available for Call of Duty and a few other competitive titles. Games like Fortnite attempted to give controller players a better chance against keyboard and mouse players by allowing for “aim assist,” a function through which the …
Fortnite data miner claims aim assist was nerfed, no word from Epic
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Keyboard and mouse Fortnite players on Windows and Mac may possibly have reason to rejoice. Trusted Fortnite data miner Lucas7Yoshi has found some new information that could potentially mean aim assist is being nerfed on PC. He said that a simple restart of your game should apply the changes uncovered. A hotfix was deployed adjusting aim assist on Windows and MacI do not know what these values exactly mean, but …
Ninja bans ZexRow from Ninja Battles tournament for insults
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
After swearing and insulting other competitors, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins decided to ban Anthony “ZexRow” Colandro from future Ninja Battle events. Ninja announced his own Fortnite tournament series on May 28. The six-week online competition features an $80,000 prize pool each week. After only the first week of play, one pro player has already been banned from future editions of the event. Team SoloMid’s ZexRow had 59 points at the end …
Fortnite’s rarest skin, Recon Expert, back in shop for limited time
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Epic Games made Fortnite’s rarest skin of all time, Recon Expert, available for purchase in stores for about two minutes on the morning of May 27. Usually, Epic changes their rotating selection of available skin offerings at night. But for some reason, it seemed to go live at the wrong time, allowing a few lucky players to grab the rare skin early. Others were not as fortunate, getting cut off …
Fortnite has come a long way over the course of the game’s lifespan. What began as an upstart early-access title with base-building mechanics would eventually transform into the world’s most popular and lucrative video game, capturing the attention of millions upon millions of players across the world and entering into the mainstream cultural lexicon.
But how exactly did that happen? How did one of many games released by developer Epic Games manage to transform in real-time into something with such potential, and to what extent did Fortnite really grow? The answers are indicative of what it takes for a game to go from new and struggling to becoming a global phenomenon.
The original vision for Fortnite was very different compared to the game that is so widely popular today. Developers at Epic Games intended to create a game that would merge base-building mechanics with the popular shooting gameplay that the company was best known for, from its experience releasing such titles those found in the Unreal Tournament and Gears of War franchises.
While that vision was altered even prior to Fortnite’s initial release, with a darker creative look becoming brighter and more reminiscent of children’s cartoons, the first release of Fortnite did feature that original focus. Titled Fortnite: Saves the World, this was a paid early-access release that met moderate fanfare and player enthusiasm.
A follow-up release would do far better. That follow-up was Fortnite Battle Royale, a free-to-play version of the game that featured the core mechanics and experience players most associate with the Fortnite name today. The battle royale game mode, thrown together in just a couple of months by developers, was at the time a relatively new concept. A multitude of players would be dropped onto one map to do battle with each other, accruing resources and weaponry in an open-world environment to better equip themselves for combat. Eventually, the game’s playable map size would shrink over time, forcing players to engage with each other until only one winning player was left standing.
It’s a simple concept, but in 2017 it was fresh and new. Players quickly flocked to try this early battle royale game, and within weeks of its free-to-play release, Fortnite Battle Royale was playing host to millions of players.
First and foremost, the success of Fortnite can be seen in the extreme revenue numbers generated by the game for maker Epic Games. Just a few short years after its release, Fortnite had already led to billions of dollars in revenue for Epic. This success was enough to send reverberations throughout the entire video game industry. Dozens of clones would follow, trying to recapture the battle royale magic that Fortnite had so successfully crystallized, but it proved difficult for most.
Money wasn’t the only marker of the game’s ascendance, however. Fortnite broached popular mainstream culture in a way that few video games ever have. Popular streamer and former Halo pro Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was at the fore of this wave of popularity, co-streaming with rap superstar Drake and appearing on numerous television talk shows to discuss the game and the craze surrounding it. Popular musicians beyond Drake also got involved with the game, as Travis Scott and Marshmello hosted live, in-game concerts to both popular and critical acclaim.
The Fortnite World Cup raised the game’s profile even further in some circles. Held at the famous Arthur Ashe Stadium in New York City, the event awarded $3 million to 16-year-old phenom Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf, who then found himself paraded through mainstream media circles just as Ninja had been before him.
While its apex may have come and gone, Fortnite remains one of the most popular and successful games in the world today, continuing to play host to many millions of players while generating major revenues for Epic Games.
