Cognition Dissemination: When Did Fortnite Get So Popular?

It was easy to see that Fortnite would be popular after it was announced, and it was clear Epic Games had high expectations for it. It was the biggest project among their new initiative to completely drift away from developing traditional AAA games like the Gears of War titles, as the company believed the significance of the free-to-play market would be too large to ignore.

Epic discussed how the title would be different from their previous works when it was first revealed at the Spike TV Video Game Awards way back in 2011, and subsequently detailed it within magazines like Game Informer. It was always planned to be a sandbox game intended to attract an audience that either never would have given their shooters and deathmatch games a chance, or those who were no longer fans of the genres. It looked intriguing to many gaming types form the outset, but others who didn’t want to see Epic go down this path were pessimistic about their new approach. I agreed with the former audience when I previewed it nearly four years ago, where I noted how it could laso represent a huge change regarding the types of games Game Informer gave cover stories to.

At the time, though, I don’t think anyone could have imagined it getting as big as it became, especially since it feels like it happened overnight for cave dwellers who haven’t been following its developments too intensely.

Fortnite’s feature set changed several times while it was in development, and the title was shifted from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4. It’s currently a paid-for early access title planned for a full release this year. The version released last year is dubbed the “Save the World” iteration, a sandbox survival game dependent on cooperative play. As an easy way to describe it, Epic founder Tim Sweeney called it “Minecraft meets Left 4 Dead” at the Develop Conference in late 2013.

Fortnite lets players explore the environment, collect items, craft weapons, build structures, and work together with other players to fend off hordes of enemies. It’s ostensibly simple, but it hooks those who play it thanks to its depth and the number of locations, items, and potential for different character builds.

The game’s colorful art style helped relay to players how approachable it would be, especially compared to the games Epic used to be known for. In addition to having a good amount of content, Epic’s also kept the player base interested through holding in-game events, a necessity for games with large online components.

While this iteration of Fortnite was popular, it didn’t become a behemoth until Fortnite Battle Royale released. As the name implies, it’s a battle royale title that places up to 100 players on one map, where they compete to be the last one standing. Players can stay within a constantly shrinking safe zone, but they’ll take damage upon venturing outside it. There’s also a need to scavenge for better weapons and equipment while exploring in order to get the upper hand, and it includes the construction elements from the “Save the World” Fortnite version to build forts.

When the game was first detailed, the similarities to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds didn’t go unnoticed, and it was thoroughly eviscerated as being a rip-off. That it released so soon after PUBG didn’t help matters, a game whose overwhelming success was well known. It was close enough that PUBG’s development team considered taking action against Epic, though they appear to have backed off that for now.

Epic, however, claimed they’re simply big fans of the genre, and realized how this kind of title made with Fortnite assets could be popular with a large audience. It also helped that unlike the “Save the World” version, this was released through early access as a free-to-play game instead of a paid-for one.

Epic didn’t let the criticism deter them from releasing the game, which was the right decision given its massive success. It effortlessly eclipsed the original Fortnite in popularity, which showed how hot the battle royale genre is at the moment, and that a free-to-play format is the way to go. It’s even topped PUBG in terms of popularity in some markets, a game whose sales are approaching 33 million on Steam worldwide. There’s a reason why the game is so omnipresent these days, to the point that news stations are covering it — both nationwide and locally.

It was also big news when rapper Drake and Ninja streamed their late-night playthrough on Twitch, which broke non-tournament records on the service. Also, YouTuber elrubiusOMG’s stream of Fortnite recently set a record, as 1.1 million viewers watched his recent stream. These will only further elevate the game with those looking to get into it.

Coincidentally, both Fortnite (just the Battle Royale version) and PUBG just received mobile versions, which give anyone who likes the genre the opportunity to play it anywhere — assuming they’re okay with touchscreen-driven controls. While the sizable audience mentioned above is enjoying it while they’re away from their computers or consoles, this also applies to kids playing the games on their phones in schools. Teachers and faculty are unsurprisingly not happy about this, and some have banned both from being played over Wi-Fi on school premises. All this means is that both games are selling incredibly well on mobile platforms too, though PUBG has a current advantage thanks to being on both iOS and Android, while Fortnite is only on the former.

Fortnite Battle Royale is a phenomenon that clearly won’t be fading anytime soon, and Epic is hoping the “Save the World” version will achieve more success when the free-to-play version of that title releases later this year. Get ready for a new flood of stories about it from mainstream news outlets.

Despite Paragon not succeeding, it’s clear free-to-play games like this are the future for Epic Games. This might be to the chagrin of anyone who misses the old Epic, but at least some of their franchises will live on through other developers, like Gears of War with The Coalition. What form the new Unreal Tournament will appear in remains to be seen, besides being completely free, though it’s notably been nearly four years since it was revealed.