A year ago, no one had heard of Fortnite, the online shooter game in which 100 players fight it out to be the last person standing. Now it is the biggest video game in the world, with an obsessive fanbase among schoolchildren and teenagers.
Previously only available on consoles and PC, last week an iPhone version was given a limited release – and within hours it topped the iTunes chart in 13 countries. According to the market research firm Sensor Tower it made $1.5m (£1m) in revenue for Epic Games, its developer, in its first three days.
This in spite of the fact that access is via email invite only; and the game is free to download. The revenue comes from cosmetic in-game purchases – people are paying for their character to wear different outfits.
This comes as no surprise to anyone who has followed the meteoric rise of the game since Epic redesigned what was previously a cooperative survival adventure, and made it free to download. In February, the PC, PlayStation and Xbox versions made a combined $126m in revenue, according to the research company SuperData. At any one time, there are 3.4 million people playing online, putting it among hugely established titles such as Counter Strike, Dota 2 and the very similar PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, a game Epic was accused of copying.
What is gaining most attention, though, is how popular the game is with children. Parents are venting their concerns on Facebook and Twitter, with one mother stating: “[It’s the] only game my boys and their friends play. Fifa is forgotten all of a sudden as well as Call of Duty for the older ones.”
In February, the US blogger Amy Selling went viral with her post, How I lost my kids to Fortnite, receiving hundreds of responses from other parents. One mother complained that her 10-year-old son had changed as a result of his “addiction” to the game.
The popularity with children and teens is partly down to the fact that the game is free. Its bright cartoon-like visuals, exaggerated special effects and slapstick humour also set it apart from other titles – as does its huge range of purchasable clothing items and “emotes”, allowing players to dress up as astronauts and superheroes, and perform dance moves and mocking gestures towards other players.
Having the rarest outfits – gained by purchasing a “battle pass” then levelling up through the game – and coolest moves is the virtual equivalent of owning fresh Nikes or on-trend jeans.
“Fortnite is the latest game to prove how powerful a free game offering can be,” says James Batchelor of Gamesindustry.biz. “The impressive revenues Epic has generated show that people are more than willing to invest in an experience they enjoy. It is another example of an ongoing trend in the mobile space: ‘real games for real gamers’. With smartphones becoming even more powerful, traditional gamers are seeking more PC-like and console-like titles to play on the go, and Fortnite shows that companies no longer have to water down their games for mobile.”
The download figures are impressive, but as pointed out by Piers Harding-Rolls, the head of games at the research company IHS Markit, there is plenty of room for growth. “This initial audience is weighted towards western players, so there is potential for significantly more scale from markets such as China,” he said.
Last week, when the top Fortnite streamer Tyler “Ninja” Blevins played against the rapper Drake on the streaming channel Twitch, more than 600,000 people tuned in to watch, doubling the channel’s previous record for concurrent views.
For all its success, however, Fortnite is likely to be subject to the familiar whims of its largely young audience. The last big crossover gaming craze, Pokemon Go, hit 750m downloads and more than $950m in revenue in its first year on sale, but has now dropped out of the top 50 iPhone game downloads, according to the data site App Annie. A year ago, parents had not heard of Fortnite – in a year’s time they may well be wondering what all the fuss was about.
