Fortnite
Fortnite
Ninja to appear on TV game show Family Feud
Olivia Richman
Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins was recently in Los Angeles for a different kind of competition. Ninja announced on Twitter that he would be starring in an episode of Celebrity Family Feud this summer, joined by his wife and family. His fans had spent the week speculating why Ninja was in California after he sent out a few ominous tweets leading up to the reveal. Family Feud is one of …
Fortnite
Epic Games sues company behind Fortnite Live festival debacle
Olivia Richman
Exciting Events has gone into liquidation after Epic Games filed a lawsuit in the wake of the company’s Norwich Fortnite Live festival. Without authorization from Epic to use the company’s intellectual properties, Exciting Events hosted a Fortnite-themed event that quickly became infamous after hundreds of attendees demanded refunds. “These proceedings by Epic Games has had a catastrophic impact on the company’s ability to trade, which has forced Exciting Events Limited …
Fortnite
Epic to contribute $100 million to Fortnite esports in 2019
Steven Rondina
Epic Games is set to invest a whole lot of money into the competitive Fortnite scene. The publisher has revealed its plans for the 2019 competitive season, outlining a series of weekly events and formally announcing the Fortnite World Cup. What’s more, it revealed that there will be $100 million on the line for pro players who compete, with $30 million up for grabs at the World Cup. The build …
Fortnite
Ninja has lost 90% of his Twitch subscribers
Olivia Richman
Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins is no longer the most-subscribed broadcaster on Twitch. Over the past 10 months, Ninja has lost 90 percent of his subscribers, going from a record-breaking 263,000 to just over 26,000. He is now the 11th most-subscribed person on Twitch, falling behind such personalities as Michael “Shroud” Grzesiek and Felix “xQc” Lengyel. Not to be confused with followers, Twitch subscribers make a monthly payment to a …
Fortnite
Fortnite Secret Skirmish rules have pro players livid
Steven Rondina
The build towards Fortnite’s Secret Skirmish event has not been wholly positive. While the tournament is set to be one of the year’s biggest, featuring a $500,000 prize pool and a long list of top pro players competing, a pair of controversial rules enacted by Epic have competitors grumbling in the days leading up to the event. “The idea of traveling for two days for a forced peripheral LAN is …
Fortnite
Free cosmetics, ranked mode in Fortnite’s Share the Love event
Steven Rondina
Epic is giving Fortnite players a gift for Valentine’s Day, and it isn’t a stuffed bear. From February 8 to 27 the popular battle royale will host the “Share the Love” event, celebrating the most romantic holiday of the year. Festivities will be spread across 19 days, and will offer players the chance to earn a variety of rewards. For the majority of players, the centerpiece of the event is …
Fortnite
Top Fortnite player released after theft accusations
Steven Rondina
One of Fortnite’s most successful pro players now finds himself without a sponsor. Luminosity Gaming has officially announced the release of Nate “Kreo” Kou. The news comes after a wave of controversy surrounding Kreo due to a YouTube video claiming the player was boosting, stealing and re-selling accounts. On February 7, YouTuber The Fortnite Guy posted a video discussing a 14-year-old named Noah who had evidence that he had been …
Fortnite
Ninja feeding the homeless becomes social media drama
Steven Rondina
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins’ had a busy Super Bowl weekend, and some of it has resulted in drama on social media. Following the big game, Ninja and his wife, Jess “JGhosty” Blevins, gathered food from their hotel to gift to the local homeless population in Atlanta. According to JGhosty on Twitter, when the couple set out, the popular streamer was shouted at by an unknown individual. While JGhosty did not delve …
Millions attend virtual Marshmello concert in Fortnite
gabhernandez
Fortnite
Marshmello’s virtual concert at Fortnite’s Pleasant Park was a smashing success. Chris “Marshmello” Comstock is a popular masked EDM DJ with millions of fans around the world. Forbes named him as one of the world’s highest paid disc jockeys in 2017. A 10-minute Marshmello concert hosted in-game at Fortnite’s Pleasant Park location featured some of Marshmello’s biggest hits, including Chasing Colors, Fly, and Happier. Concert attendees clapped, jumped, and danced …
Epic seeks to use influencers to bring business to new store
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Epic Games’ Support-A-Creator program is expanding. The publisher announced on Twitter its plans to implement the crowdfunding tool outside of Fortnite, and to enable it across the entire Epic Games Store. The move ties into the company’s greater effort to expand the visibility of its new digital distribution platform. Support-A-Creator was initially introduced in October and offered content creators across various social media platforms the opportunity to receive a cut …
UFC fighter celebrates with Fortnite dance
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Count Jose Aldo among the many pro athletes that love Fortnite. The former UFC featherweight champion scored a big win at UFC Fight Night 144, knocking out Renato Moicano early in the second round of the fight. The Brazilian commemorated the occasion by showing off his rendition of the “Take the L” dance from Fortnite. Since rolling out its Battle Royale mode in 2017, Fortnite has achieved a level of …
PewDiePie declares war, plays Fornite for the first time
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Felix “PewDiePie” Kjellberg is willing to do anything to protect his spot atop YouTube, even if it means doing the unthinkable. In a desperate attempt to further surpass T-Series as the channel with the most followers on YouTube, PewDiePie live streamed Fortnite on Super Bowl Sunday, garnering more than 6.8 million views. The Fortnite stream has gained PewDiePie over 340,000 new subscribers thus far. Despite pulling out the big guns, …
New game mode and weapons arrive with Fortnite patch
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Fornite’s Season 7 is wrapping up soon, but that didn’t stop Epic Games from dropping a hefty patch. Version 7.30 of the game has launched and brings changes to Creative, Save the World, and Battle Royale. Included in the changes are a new weapon, a limited time game mode, and a host of other small tweaks. The biggest addition to 7.30 is the Chiller Grenade, a new thrown weapon that …
Ninja to be featured in Super Bowl ad
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Twitch streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins will soon be featured in a Super Bowl ad. Ninja revealed the news on Twitter, telling fans to watch out for his appearance before the halftime break. The Twitter update also included a short clip of the ad. In the sneak peak, Ninja appears to be a waiter at an NFL event, where he says “what’s up” to wide receiver Juju Smith-Schuster. The Steelers player …
Millions of Fortnite accounts exposed
William Davis
Fortnite
Millions of Fortnite players’ accounts were temporarily exposed due to a unexpected vulnerability. Researchers at security company Check Point discovered that a website hosted on Epic Games’ domain could be used to steal players’ authentication tokens. Once the token has been obtained for a given account, hackers could log into the account, purchase in-game currency, and even listen in on their mark’s voice chat communications. Fortunately, a user’s full credit …
Epic Games to launch free game developer tools
William Davis
Fortnite
Epic Games has shared its plans to launch a set of cross-platform services for game developers in 2019. Starting in Q2 2019, game developers will have access to the software development solutions made possible by Unreal Engine. Originally conceived for Fortnite, the services will provide small game developers with the tools necessary to improve their products. These services are the core of any online game and can often be expensive …
Dance lawsuits could bring big changes to Fortnite
gabhernandez
Fortnite
Fortnite publisher Epic Games has been served two lawsuits that could impact both Fortnite and gaming as a whole. The lawsuits come from Brooklyn rapper Terrence “2 Milly” Ferguson and actor Alfonso Ribeiro. The pair allege that Epic Games has stolen creative works in the form of in-game player animations that mimic dances originally performed by each plaintiff: Ferguson’s “Milly Rock” dance, and Alfonso Ribeiro’s “Carlton” dance from television sitcom …
Ninja took home over $10 million during a wild 2018
William Davis
Fortnite
2018 was an extraordinary year for Tyler “Ninja” Blevins. The former professional Halo player went from a reasonably popular streamer to a multi-millionaire as well as the single most popular individual on Twitch. After an exceptional period of growth for the 27-year-old, Ninja had the most viewed channel on Twitch in 2018 with over 11 million followers accrued and 226.85 million hours of content viewed over the course of the …
Epic Games launches digital store to compete with Steam
William Davis
Fortnite
Epic Games is closing out 2018 with the release of their very own online store meant to rival the likes of Steam. The store was officially announced in an online press release on December 4. Epic directly compares the Steam store to their own by contrasting the revenue that game companies will receive from products sold between the two stores. The announcement stated that developers would earn 18-25% more revenue …
Fortnite account hacking is becoming big business
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
The Fortnite account theft business is booming, according to a new report by the BBC. The outlet tracked down a number of hackers from across Europe and posted a lengthy report on the findings on its website. That report discussed the hijacking process, the market for stolen login information, and the kind of money that can be made along the way. According to the report, the hacking community has made …
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.
