What lies behind the Fortnite advert?
(Pocket-lint) – Epic Games has used Fortnite to start a revolution. It’s no accident that the company is using one of the biggest – and highest earning – games out there, knowing that Fortnite is going to get everyone’s attention. It’s also going to carry with it popularist support, which is key to any revolution. The biggest single part of the move is undoubtedly Epic’s epic Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite video. This isn’t the sort of thing that you just pluck out of thin air, it’s part of a carefully planned campaign, while also resonating with current anti-trust investigations into big technology companies. The Nineteen Eighty-Fortnite video is pretty much a frame-by-frame reinvention of Apple’s own 1984 commercial for the Macintosh. Apple’s original video ran during the Super Bowl in 1984 and was designed to challenge a vision where big technology companies controlled the future. Epic’s video carries the exact same message, candidly using Fortnite-style characters, recreating that Apple video – it even goes as far as using the old 4:3 aspect for added authenticity. Although it was never originally intended, many took Apple’s commercial to be about IBM. According to one of the advert’s creators Lee Clow it was designed to be part of an ongoing campaign for the Macintosh, but the Apple board didn’t want to continue because it didn’t show the new PC and it wasn’t actually available to buy either, so it only ever aired during the 1984 Super Bowl.
