Why is Fornite so Popular?

Fortnite has quickly become the most popular game of 2018. People, more specifically teenagers, are playing the game in most of their free time and talking to friends about it whenever they can. The question still remains, what is Fortnite, and why is it so popular?

Anybody who has ever played or heard of Fortnite can confirm that it is a 100 player battle royale. 100 people, give or take a few, fight to the death with a variety of weapons they collect around the play area until there is only one survivor. What fewer people remember is there is also a solo-player zombie survival game mode as well. The game was released on July 25, 2017, but did not seem to gain popularity until months after. Its competitor, Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds, almost got titled as Game of the Year, so how is Fortnite rising above it so quickly?

What proves that Fortnite is growing above PUBG is that according to Rolling Stone, the game already has 40 million players, and this number grows on a daily basis. On the contrary, Rolling Stone also says that PUBG has made over $700 million, partially due to the game being $30, opposed to Fortnite being entirely free to play. Daily Star has confirmed that the developer of the game, when asked about bringing Fortnite to the Nintendo Switch, said that he is interested in the idea and “Hopefully we do that at some point!” EpicGames, the company that created Fortnite, is intrigued by the technology of the Switch, and the possibilities that the system and its community hold.

The question still remains, however, why is Fortnite so popular? One reason is, of course, because the game is free. Everybody, especially gamers, loves free games and game content. The competitor, PUBG, has a $30 price tag. This is the primary reason, but others include the more clear weapon drops. In PUBG, weapons are hidden around in buildings and are extremely realistic. Since they look exactly like a gun on a table, they can be hard to see. Sometimes, you could walk past the best gun in the game. Fortnite, on the other hand, has weapons floating above the ground with a glowing light around it, and each color represents how good the weapon actually is. Additionally, the environment in PUBG is somewhat laggy and poorly rendered, and different items/players blend in with their environment. In Fortnite, the buildings, items, and players are highly visible in contrast to the green and blue surroundings. Not only is Fortnite free, but it is more clear and fluent than PUBG. Lastly, Fortnite gives players the ability to collect resources and build at will. Towers, houses, platforms in the middle of the air, bridges, ramps, just about anything that somebody could think of that would help can be built in Fortnite.

With how many Licking Valley students are constantly talking about Fortnite, it is important that the people listening know what is being discussed. Are the differences between Fortnite and PUBG important to understand the game? Not necessarily. Is it important to know why exactly Fortnite is so popular? If an understanding is desired

, then yes. Fortnite has become a new fad. It will likely stay relevant in the oncoming months, and all of us need to understand what it is, so we don’t get left behind.