Fortnite
Fortnite
Every spooky Fortnite Halloween skin added in 2021
William Davis
With all the Fortnite Halloween skins added in 2021, the spooky season is whenever you want it to be. Part of the fun of any Fortnite match is styling on your opponents. Even if you don’t score any kills, you can still have a blast just running around the map using your favorite dance emotes and rocking your favorite skins. The massively popular game is known for its wide variety …
Fortnite
JeffTheMVP accuses Xtra Gaming of hiding sexual assault story
Olivia Richman
Fortnite pro player JeffTheMVP has come forward with a sexual assault story that his organization, Xtra Gaming, has allegedly attempted to cover up. JeffTheMVP shared a TwitLonger that revealed his emotional experience. According to JeffTheMVP, he and a friend were drugged and then sexually assaulted by SirCarter and ThatsSoRaffy, two TikTok content creators. The assault happened in August and JeffTheMVP said that it’s been eating away at him ever since. …
Fortnite
How many people play Fortnite in 2021?
William Davis
Fortnite isn’t nearly as popular as it used to be, but it’s still easy to find a full battle bus. Fortnite has gone from one of the most popular video games in the world to a fairly standard battle royale title. With 100 players needed to start a proper game, it’s important for any battle royale to have a thriving player base. While the game is officially past its glory …
Fortnite
Epic Games may be making a movie based on Fortnite
Olivia Richman
Epic Games is reportedly considering a Fortnite movie. After Epic Games’ legal battles with Apple and Google, Epic Games has decided to diversify its product offering outside of video games alone, according to The Information. A source told the site that a film is being discussed. This coincides with Epic Games hiring people from Lucasfilm who previously worked on Disney’s Star Wars films, including its former vice president Jason McGatlin …
Fortnite
Fortnite Season 8 brings bizarre cubes to the island
Fariha Bhatti
The Fortnite universe has taken an entirely new shape in Chapter 2 Season 8, with malicious cubes infesting the arena. The lore in Fortnite is unfolding to be a bizarre and creepy one after the culmination of Season 7. The alien “invasion” brought a futuristic arena alive but these new bosses are more dangerous and peculiar. The battle between those aliens and the Imagined Order has ended, marking the return …
Fortnite
MrSavage banned in the middle of FNCS grand finals match
Steven Rondina
Epic Games is continuing to struggle terribly with maintaining competitive integrity during major Fortnite tournaments. During game four out of 12 in the Fortnite Championship Series grand finals, 100 Thieves Fortnite player Martin “MrSavage” Foss Andersen was banned mid-game. In the middle of the game, a notice popped up in the chat box that MrSavage had been “hit with the banhammer.” The player then confirmed the news on Twitter. https://twitter.com/MrSavage/status/1434228025986592773 …
Fortnite
New Fortnite skin pays homage to Will Smith in Bad Boys film
Olivia Richman
Bad boys, bad boys, whatcha gonna do when he comes for you? Will Smith is coming to Fortnite. Epic Games has announced that Will Smith is coming to Fortnite as a Mike Lowrey skin. This is his iconic character from 1995 film Bad Boys. The outfit is called “Loose Cannon” and it comes with Mike Lowrey’s signature outfit, a Detective’s Duffle Bag Bling, and Loose Cannon Cutters, which are dual-wielding …
Fortnite
Fortnite community reacts to March Through Time MLK event
Olivia Richman
The Fortnite fandom is applauding Epic Games for putting on one of the game’s most serious crossovers yet. A Martin Luther King Jr. civil rights museum is coming to Fortnite, allowing players to walk through various exhibits that include videos of MLK’s speeches. Called March Through Time, the in-game commemoration is presented by TIME Studios. “Celebrate the life and work of Nobel Peace Prize recipient Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. …
Two fan-made skins are coming to Fortnite this year
Olivia Richman
News
Two new fan-made skins are now coming to Fortnite. Epic Games held a Concept Royale to find the best fan-made skin concepts. It began on June 15 and the winners were revealed earlier this week. Those two winners will have their concepts turned into in-game outfits and will also receive $2,500 each. According to a post made by the official Fortnite team, the outfits will be debuted in December during …
Ninja blames his toxic chat for streaming less on Twitch
Olivia Richman
News
Tyler “Ninja” Blevins has been noticeably spending less time streaming and fans are wondering why. Ninja has decided to open up about why. Ninja is undeniably one of the most popular streamers of all time. He rose to fame years ago for his Fortnite streams, including his record-breaking broadcast with rapper Drake. Even after leaving Twitch, Ninja has come back to the platform to 17 million followers. While Ninja has …
Will Smith, Morty, J Balvin, and more are coming to Fortnite
William Davis
Fortnite
A crazy batch of upcoming Fortnite cosmetics has been leaked by data miners. Upcoming collaborations for Fortnite have been spoiled by renowned leakers HYPEX and Officer. The pair uncovered several new collaborations that have yet to be formally announced. There’s a ton of cool stuff coming soon for Fortnite, so let’s start with the most surprising new addition. The wildest upcoming inclusion is a new Fortnite character skin based on …
New Fortnite Impostors mode looks like Among Us copy
Fariha Bhatti
News
Fortnite has a new game mode and it’s suspiciously similar to Among Us. Epic Games has delivered a load of fun LTMs in Fortnite, but this new one has players doing a double-take. Fortnite’s latest crack at social deduction games is eerily similar to Among Us, Innersloth’s multiplayer game that took the internet by storm in 2020. The Bridge is under attack! Will you ensure the safety and security of …
Fortnite streamer banned on Twitch after child rape arrest
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Brazilian Fortnite streamer Raulino “RaulZito” de Oliveira Maciel has been arrested on allegations of raping two children. According to police, the victims are between 10 and 14 years old. Exact ages were not disclosed in the police report. RaulZito was arrested on July 27. Despite this, the streamer strangely remained on Twitch until August 12, at which point he was banned. RaulZito still remains a Twitch Partner, suggesting the ban …
Pop singer Ariana Grande coming to Fortnite with Rift Tour
Fariha Bhatti
Fortnite
Popstar Ariana Grande is the next star to grace Fortnite with a concert named the Rift Tour. Fortnite had various popular musicians and singers bring their talent to the Fortnite realm, but Ariana Grande will be the biggest name so far to enter the virtual universe. The star singer shared a dramatic teaser of her glamorous outfit from the Rift Tour on Twitter. ???? #rifttour august 6-8@FortniteGame https://t.co/Mlf5Xpl9HO pic.twitter.com/pTgLJ7e67O — …
Fortnite introduces new Plasma Cannon in latest patch v17.21
Fariha Bhatti
Fortnite
Epic Games has rolled out a brand new weapon dubbed the Plasma Cannon to the Invasion in Chapter 2 Season 7. Fortnite’s arsenal hasn’t seen a notable update in a long time. The developer has finally decided to surprise its fans with a new alien tech in its v17.21 mini-update released on July 27. The sleek Plasma Cannon is tiny, but it’s capable of insane damage. The Battle Royale’s v17.20 …
Bugha gets Icon skin in Fortnite including World Cup cosmetic variation
Fariha Bhatti
Fortnite
The winner of the 2019 Fortnite World Cup Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf is finally getting his own Icon series, joining Ninja, Loserfruit, TheGrefg, and Lachlan in this select group. Epic Games has previously merged pop culture with Fortnite’s virtual world in the form of costumes for Batman, the Avengers, and John Wick. This time, the company is paying homage to the winner of the only Fortnite World Cup Bugha with a …
Fortnite pros are fed up with RNG, demand 100% chest spawn rate
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Fortnite Season 7 brought a lot of new content, including many new crossovers with more still to come. But competitive Fortnite players are not happy with the state of the game and want developers to focus more on gameplay rather than adding new content. Players are getting fed up with the spawn rates in the popular battle royale. Epic removed the 100% chest spawn rate in the game, something that …
These are the rarest skins in Fortnite in 2021
Olivia Richman
Fortnite
Some Fortnite skins are rarer than others, and seeing players run around in the game can get a lot of battle royale players feeling both hyped up and a little jealous. While recent months have seen a lot of pop culture crossover skins, some of the most desired skins are much older thanks to how hard it is to come across them. Here are some of the rarest Fortnite skins …
When will Fortnite Chapter 2 end?
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Fortnite Chapter 2 has been around for a long while now but that’s probably not always going to be the case. The popular battle royale title is still attracting players by the millions, but a big part of that is Epic Games’ willingness to take the game in bold new directions with huge gameplay updates. The biggest to date was the end of Fortnite Season X, which was followed by …
Fortnite x NBA event confirmed with NBA skins and tournament
Steven Rondina
Fortnite
Fortnite is set to feature another huge collaboration. Epic Games has announced a crossover event between Fortnite and the NBA. “Fortnite x NBA: The Crossover” will see custom skin sets for each NBA team released in Fortnite. Alongside this will be other unique offerings tailored around specific big-name players who happen to be fans of Fortnite. This confirmed part of previous leaks from the Epic Games vs. Apple lawsuit. Lace …
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.
