During the PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) boom in 2017, many players wanted to be able to try this battle royale experience outside of the PC. It seems crazy to think that in this time the idea of a battle royale hasn’t been developed or plagiarized into a solid game. It’s not like now there are so many games in this style that the genre is already saturated. But no, at that time the only thing the community wanted was a console port of PUBG, which finally came to Xbox in 2018.
The above is a bit of background to the picture, because in 2017 we had no idea what was coming. Just in September of the same year, Fortnite Battle Royale launched for free and managed to become a total success. But it didn’t happen overnight, because Fortnite is not a game developed in a single year, but rather a video game that has been around for over a decade, but which absolutely no one remembered.
And no, it’s not a big discovery, it’s not something that wasn’t known. The reason I’m writing this review is because we currently enjoy Fortnite for its popularity, but there is little talk about its value within the industry, how it will make history in the future and why for which he is currently one of the best that has existed.
From oblivion to glory in a masterstroke from Epic Games
In 2011, Epic Games announced the launch of a survival and building game called Fortnite. The video game never ended up being released, as it was in early access since that year with irregular updates. The 2011 game is what we know today as the “save the world” game mode, a game mode that was not free-to-play in 2017 and was still the main game mode.
The game was not a success, we can say that it is almost a game that died before its release and that no one remembers. Epic Games did well to remove almost all of the game’s recordings on their part. But in 2017, it was still a game looking to stand out, and it shows, because the look of the 2011 gameplay is quite different from that of 2017. This is when Epic Games, in its need to have a good launch after separating from Steam, is creating a free Battle Royale game mode as a lever allowing users to register on the Epic Games Store.
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The rest is history, and what we are experiencing now is the consequence of a chain of good decisions made by a company that focused on making money through good service. And that’s the problem, a lot of people’s opinions are based on criticizing Epic Games’ money chase, instead of seeing how great their job was with one of the most successful games. most important in the industry in recent years.
Fortnite understood its community and outperformed its competitors
After the release of Battle Royale Fortnite, several competitors joined the equation, in addition to PUBG itself of course. Games like Apex Legends, Call of Duty Warzone and others that have not achieved the same popularity during these years. But regarding the 4 previously mentioned, we know that they continue to dominate the battle royale genre.
The case of Fortnite is different and, for me, a success story that has left its mark on an entire generation of actors and has positively transformed several habits within the industry. For this reason, Fortnite continues to be the best in its category, but not only that, it is growing, creating a transmedia narrative so powerful that it seems impossible to see it disappear in many years.
There is a clear example of what we are experiencing, and that is Minecraft. The success of these games is very similar, as they are titles that have grown over years and community support. And maybe that’s the best thing, since it’s not just about updating the game, but about understanding the path to maintaining and growing a community.
It was in the early seasons of the game that we discovered the differential value of Fortnite, when they not only added elements to the sandbox, but also improved the mechanics and graphics of the game. On the other hand, PUBG and Warzone sought to attract a more adult audience, but this move remained half-finished, as with every step forward Epic Games made, other developers did what they could to copy the success. Map changes, new skins and much more. But nothing was ever enough.
The above has a trick, but it can be taken care of with some events. Warzone launched a sequel as a desperate measure in the face of the dramatic drop in player numbers, Apex Legends has always remained in the background, partly because it has been the one that has been updated the least. And PUBG, for its part, became a free game and adopted several game-as-a-service features so as not to lose its community, which is one of the most loyal in battle royale. But of course, that’s just the beginning, since we’re talking about Battle Royale games, and Fortnite right now is so much more than that.
A game that expanded and revolutionized the industry
Right now, Fortnite is one of the most recognized games in existence, even outside of the gaming community. It is perhaps the most popular game, considering that the children’s community is very powerful today and this marks the way video game creation works.
Fortnite was one of the games that took over battle passes, which, thanks to its success, motivated many developers to use gaming-as-a-service practices. This wave of games with monetization via battle passes was created thanks to Fortnitebringing one of the most abused practices after loot boxes.
I’m not saying that Fortnite created this model, but rather that it managed to establish an industry practice that we see in all versions today. This revolution has been important, for better or for worse, but it is undeniable that Fortnite is a precursor. However, this was not the only thing, since Epic Games used this game as a small laboratory to create experiences and create trends.
For example, Fortnite managed to implement a transmedia narrative that almost no IP has achieved as successfully as Mario, Minecraft and a few others. And yes, these success stories may be due to their affinity for kids, but that hasn’t stopped other development studios from imitating Epic Games’ moves. But of course, books, videos, games, music and much more.
Currently, Fortnite collected models like Roblox’s, as a showcase for many genres of games that are not necessarily a battle royale. This movement further energized the brand, it transformed it into something new that little by little would grow and end up being the definitive video game.
Yes, Fortnite is one of the best video games in history
Finally, after laying out the reasons why I think this game is good and has been important in recent years, I also have to make the case that it deserves to be one of the best games of all time. The way to currently measure the quality of video games is by their depth and all kinds of things that are far from what multiplayer is. But of course, when we evaluate what Fortnite has done during its recent trajectory since 2017, it’s impossible to separate its value within the industry.
It may seem excessive, but Fortnite has achieved impressive things, a united and lasting community over time. On the playable side this has been on everyone’s lips, the building system surprised us from the start, mobility has been updated and improved, even up to the move to Unreal Engine 5 which has completely improved the experience .
All of the above is just an opinion of course, but it is also intended to be a small reflection to better promote a game that is currently very popular, but little appreciated by the more “specialized” or “mature” community of players. . It’s not just that, but also the widespread criticism that it’s a game for kids, that it’s boring to play against people who just build, or that Epic Games only wants to take our money.. But of course we all had the experience of the game, and you might like it more or less, but that doesn’t mean it’s a bad video game and didn’t score a era of free multiplayer games.
For this reason, and finally, I encourage everyone to try this game, or at least give it the place it deserves in the industry. Not as a child’s game, but as a video game that marked an era and will now go down in history.
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