Fortnite's Incredible Success
The biggest news in gaming this week definitely has to be the release of the closed beta of Fortnite on IOS devices, especially so soon after the announcement. Fortnite has been an incredibly popular game, and in fact it is the most popular game in the world currently.
But Why Is It the Most Popular Game?
I think that the popularity of Fortnite can be easily attributed to four main factors:
Fortnite is a free to play game that has in-game purchasable aesthetic items. This coupled with the cross platform support (currently PS4, Xbox, PC, Mac, IOS and soon to be Android) allows for a massive audience to be reached. You will soon be able to play the game on nearly every piece of technology from the past few years (I'm not sure how demanding the mobile versions will be yet).
Then add the fact that the game is easy to learn and has an attractive style for children and adults alike? I think that Epic has done everything right with attracting people into the world of Fortnite so far.
However, I don't believe that Fortnite's success was completely on its own. I think that most of it was, but I also believe that there was definitely the help of PUBG. PUBG has been incredibly popular (https://www.polygon.com/2018/2/15/17016332/pubg-sales-xbox-pc-active-players) for a few years now, attracting millions of players at a time. PUBG isn't an easy to access game though, it required a high end PC, around $30 to purchase, and it is a far more difficult game in terms of gameplay.
So it is true that Fortnite did rise to such success partly due to PUBG, and I believe that PUBG gained Fortnite much of its initial audience. In saying that, I do also believe that Fortnite would have reached the same heights on its own, it just would've taken a bit more time.
Why Should the Android and IOS Release Interest You?
The better question is why shouldn't it? Even if you don't plan on playing it on either of these devices hear me out, this could be the most important moment in gaming for the past year or longer. Let me explain:
There have been games before Fortnite that were cross platform, Albion Online and Hearthstone are but two that I can name off the top of my head. But neither of these was particularly fast paced, highly graphical, or overall as demanding. To my knowledge Fortnite brings the first experience truly comparable to PC gaming (to mobile devices).
Further, you can play with your friends. Nearly any friend. If you have a gaming PC and they have an iPhone (although I admit, at the looks of it currently it must be an iPhone X or 8), it's okay. No problem! You'll be playing together instantly. That's the truly amazing thing here, there's no more platform limitations. Unless you are Sony
This shows how advanced mobile devices have truly become. Even at low graphics Fortnite is a demanding game, and the fact that epic has fully converted the game this well really speaks volumes about them and their awesome team.
The Future...
Will Fortnite succeed of fail? Who knows. Certainly not me. But whether or not it does succeed is irrelevant in many of these points. Epic has already shown us a working form of Fortnite on mobile, and it's flawed, but a very great start.
If it succeeds it will bring even more big developers to mobile, and not only with 'mobile' games. In the future we may be seeing even more full release PC/console games on mobiles, and that is something that I think we should all look forward to.