Fortnite follows the Facebook playbook

Fourteen daysThe new game mode isn’t particularly new, but its existence matches the ambition of the Epic Games in Silicon Valley.

The mode is called The Spy Within and it’s not hard to see the similarities it must have Between us, a 2 year old game that had a huge hit in 2020 thanks to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Fourteen daysSuccess is based on taking popular or promising ideas and improving them. Its Battle Royale mode, now at the core of the game, initially appeared to be something similar PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds That developer Bluehole (now PUBG Studio) tried to sue Epic over the concept. Bluehole, however, did not have exclusive rights to the mode.

Tech company founders have been hailed and mythologized for using this tactic. Steve Jobs didn’t make the first smartphone. He just made the first one that people wanted to buy. Mark Zuckerberg didn’t invent social media either. He created the page that helped the concept catch fire.

Image: Epic Games

And like modern technology companies, Epic continues absorb popular trends to support the further development of their product.

Shortly after EA released Battle Royale competitor Apex Legends in 2019 Epic was updated Fourteen days Include similar ping and respawn systems, albeit a little cleaner. The move was reminiscent of Facebook’s cribbing stories from Instagram (a platform it now owns), Instagram’s stories mimicking Snapchat, and Apple tossing Android-style widgets on the iPhone home screen.

Like a Silicon Valley giant Fourteen days Thanks to a huge team, a resource pool and one of the largest player bases on the market, functions and modes from other games can be carried over quickly and smoothly.

It’s all about time

That year, Epic succeeded in applying this strategy beyond games.

Just like Facebook acquires WhatsApp and Instagram, Fourteen days wants to be the underlying place where you can find everything you love. But with its range and size, it doesn’t have to acquire everything. Brands will come to Epic to be associated with the phenomenon. Whether Batman skins or Marvel skins, The Mandalorian and Baby Yoda, John Wick, Sony or Microsoft, all of your favorite characters live in Fourteen days now.

In one (n Results report in June 2019Netflix famously mentioned that it didn’t see its biggest competition as other streaming services. Netflix felt it was competing for time, not subscriptions, and that meant its competition was social media and gaming. Or more precisely: Fourteen days

Less than a year later, the assumption has been proven correct. Fourteen days has since had a film showing, a trailer for a lawsuit and one of the most lucrative Single concerts in history. Fourteen daysI no longer try to be the first game you think of when you want to play something. Like any good tech company, it now wants a total monopoly of your time. Fourteen days

Image: Epic Games

As anyone with a TI-83 calculator can tell you, gamers use every platform to create and play clones of the games they already love. In this new spy mode, content has even been created by Fourteen days User.

No, Epic doesn’t steal Between us. However, the point is to take up the idea of ​​a hidden identity game and let players know that this can be part of it Fourteen days also. Why download this other game when it’s already part of the game that you and your friends already log into every day to talk to each other?

Fourteen days used to be cool. Now it’s something more powerful than cool. It’s ubiquitous. It is no longer the latest trend to pounce on, all other trends live here. It’s not hard to see where Epic wants the game to go from here. One central hub. A metaverse. Just like if your friend told you to use Facetime or send them a message or use an app, the iPhone would be implied by everything. Fourteen days strives to be similarly central.

And in a way Fourteen days is already there. If you and your friends wanted to see a Travis Scott concert in 2020, the fact was it was in Fourteen days was implies. After all, it was the only place to see it.

Before Facebook became what it is today, a megalithic sociocultural giant that owns half of the apps that people around the world use on a daily basis, it was something similar to this new version of Fourteen days. In 2013, Facebook was where you found videos, memes, and music, and you did it all because you knew your friends would see it right next to you. Now this space is increasingly in Fourteen days instead.

Don’t be surprised if Fourteen days follows in the steps of Facebook.