Google search volume interest for « Fortnite » exceeded « Minecraft » and bitcoin in recent weeks.
One of the hottest pop culture phenomenons right now is a game called « Fortnite, » attracting rap stars, top Twitch streamers and gamers alike.
The game, made by Epic Games, is surging in popularity. Google search volume interest for « Fortnite » exceeded « Minecraft » and bitcoin in recent weeks.
Source: Google Trends
At one point last month, 3.4 million people were playing the game at same time, likely making it « the biggest PC/console game in the world, » Epic Games said. The company revealed in January the game has been played by more than 45 million people worldwide.
« Fortnite » is also consistently on top of the « most-played » list for Microsoft’s Xbox One console and the most popular game on Twitch.
Epic Games launched the free-to-play « Battle Royale » mode for « Fortnite » on PC, Playstation 4, Xbox One and Mac in September. Critics said the mode was a blatant knock-off of « PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds » [PUBG], which was a big PC gaming success story last year.
« Battle Royale » type games have 100 online players violently battle to the death until only one player survives.
« Fortnite » has surpassed PUBG due to its free-to-play no upfront cost business model, lower hardware requirements, less cheating problems and a more casual cartoon look that appeals to younger gamers.
Source: Microsoft Top streamers such a Ninja, Shroud and Dr. DisRespect have flocked to playing the game.
Twitch is a live streaming video platform primarily used to stream video game play. It was acquired by Amazon for $970 million in 2014. Many streamers make a full-time living playing games from paid channel subscriptions and viewer donations.
Ninja confirmed to a Forbes contributor he is on pace to make more than $500,000 a month streaming « Fortnite » on the platform.
Rapper Drake joined Ninja to play the game Wednesday night, breaking the Twitch record for most concurrent viewers in a non-tournament stream with 630,000 people watching at peak, according to The Verge.
The rising popularity of « Fortnite » is worrying financial analysts about the future prospects for large gaming companies.
« We believe the strong growth of Fortnite creates tactical risk to the video game publishers and could limit potential upside to consensus numbers, » KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Evan Wingren wrote in a note to clients last week. « The game is gaining momentum in Western markets, which is likely to impact engagement for all AAA games to some degree. We believe Fortnite is growing the overall gaming TAM [total addressable market], but some cannibalization is likely. »
The analyst predicted the monetization of multi-player games from other publishers will suffer by about 10 percent due to competition from « Fortnite. »
And the game is about to get even bigger as it launches on smartphones.
Epic Games announced last week that « Fortnite » will be released on mobile devices. An initial invite-only version launched on Apple iOS devices on Monday and an Android version will come out in few months.
