The average gamer spends about 6.5 hours each week playing with others online. The average Fortnite player, however, most likely plays a lot more.
Fortnite, released in September of 2017, essentially took over the world throughout 2018. The current version of the game sees 100 players parachuted onto an island with all sorts of towns, communities, vehicles, and so much more. All 100 players battle it out, building structures and collecting various combat and healable items to bolster their position. Within its first 10 months of operation, Fortnite made over $1.2 billion. Fortnite maker Epic Games is now valued at nearly $15 billion.
“With more than 125 million players around the world, Fortnite’s fan base is both colossal and incredibly varied,” said a company spokesperson. “It has grabbed headlines and been obsessed over. In other words, there’s a buzz around Fortnite that puts it in a league of its own.”
Some of those gaming related headlines are kind of silly, like Fresh Prince of Bel-Air actor Alfonso Ribeiro suing Epic Games for stealing Ribeiro’s iconic dance from the show: The Carlton. Some of the stories involving Fortnite, however, were much more serious.
The Atlantic hurricane season runs from June 1st through November 30th each year. This past September, as Hurricane Florence ravaged the entire east coast, the Weather Channel attempted to not only remain safe, but provide helpful updates to nearby community members. Thanks to Unreal Engine, which powers Fortnite and other games, the Weather Channel was able to map water levels and provide various updates and information in real-time.
The technology that Epic Games employs in order for users to enjoy playing Fortnite with their friends has certainly changed the gaming landscape, but that same technology has the power to provide all sorts of revolutionary changes and improvements to other sectors, as well.
“Even on the industrial side, having such a robust developer community enables much faster software development and progression of the platform,” said Brad Twohig, who led Lightspeed Venture Partners’ in Epic’s most recent round of funding. “I think it’s a pretty uniquely positioned product.”
According to CNBC, several auto manufacturers including BMW, McLaren, and Audi have even recently attended an Unreal Engine enterprise technology event that Epic held in Germany.
Epic continues to implement innovative new features within Fortnite, including a new Creative Mode, which enables users to develop and build entire Fortnite worlds of their own.
“You start seeing how that [technology] can also inform their consumer business,” added Twohig. “If you’re able to collaborate and model in real-time on creating a jet engine in their software, imagine what consumers can do with it.”
I’ve been playing Fortnite a week. And its a disgrace to gamers. Its a fun style of game and the interactivity in the maps is good.
But between the horrendously unfair crossplays (60FPS mouse style PC users vs eg Switch goers) , atrocious connections (somehow no matter what i land literally up to 15 seconds behind other players in the same spot), and the apparent rampant amounts of cheating im reading and seeing 1st hand. This game is literally stealing gamers lives, even if it is free.
I do not like how they blatantly market it to children then run the other way when reports come out about kids getting addicted to it, bullying others who are not good at it. The kicker for me was the $40.00 an hour tutor kids are demanding. Yet many cannot even do their homework and would never ask for help to pass a class.