I hear the term “Fortnite” at least 10 times a day. If it wasn’t for my keen superhuman mind, I would think everyone was talking about something going on in 2 weeks. However, I know Fortnite is actually a video game sweeping the nation. Even celebrities such as Drake, Travis Scott, and JuJu Smith-Schuster join in on the craze. But why does everyone seem to enjoy such a basic game?
Fortnite is a free to play video game for PC, Xbox One, Playstation 4 and now even mobile devices. The concept, simple, yet captivating. 100 people, 1 winner, fight to the death. Players, spawn on an island and wait for the highly popular “Battle Bus” to bring them over an island with many cities. These cites hold loot for the player, ranging from guns to shields to bushes. “The Storm” as the game calls it, rapidly closes in on a specific spot on the map, until either everyone dies to each other, or dies to the storm.
Now that the concept is established, let’s dive deeper into the realm of Fortnite.
Fortnite’s “save the world” single player concept was first mentioned in 2011 at Spike Video Game Awards. Ever since, it has been slowly popping up around the world for more development information, but never officially been released. However, in March of 2017 a game with a different concept appeared on Steam’s Early access list titled Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds or PUBG.
After the release of Fortnite in late 2017, it seemed that Epic Games, Fortnite’s producer, decided to make a recreation copy of PUBG, but with the ability to build. In September of 2017, Fortnite Battle Royale was released. However, even though Fortnite basically copied PUBG, It is now slowly surpassing PUBG. But this still begs the question, why is it so addicting?
One reason may be the thrill of winning with your friends. The time one can put in and not win can be ridiculous, one unnamed source said, “I’ve put over 9 hours into fortnite and I only have one squad win!” The feeling of a win is unexplainable. Running in circle, jumping up and down, and screaming “YES!!”
Afterall, Fortnite brings in all crowds. Ranging from kids who have never played video games before to professional gamers, everybody seems to be playing this game.
The Bobcat Times 