Fortnite has led itself to become one of the most popular games, if not the most popular, of our time. The Battle Royale aspect of the game is not the first of its kind or the last, but the large array of features and customizability, character designs, and everything else brought it the allure to bring millions of players to its fan base and led to the success of its producers, Epic Games.
But like every other game, Fortnite too had a peak point where it observed its highest (yet) amount of users, steadily going down in for a decline. Though a decline in active users doesn’t necessarily mean the game is completely doomed. The game still is very popular and receives frequent updates that keep the game fresh and going. Let’s have a deeper look at the main outstanding features that have led the game to its popularity as of today and keep it in the spotlight as we speak.
- Massive user base
Fortnite has the largest user base of any game ever. Since its release in 2017, the game has gathered up a total of over 350 million registered users. This is over twice the number of registered users Minecraft has, which has been around since 2009 and only has 126 million registered users as of date. These users are the main reason why Fortnite rose to heights of popularity in such a short time, and plenty of these don’t plan to move away any time soon.
- Active Users
Having a huge user base of registered users is one thing, but having a large chunk of those as active users is another. Like every other game out there, Fortnite too had users that registered to the game only to stop playing after a certain amount of time and have not been active ever since. But despite all factors considered, the game had its peak at 78.3 million active users in August 2018. Considering the legal issues that Fortnite faced recently, it still managed to stay strong with an average of 22.5 million users in August 2020. This goes to show that Fortnite has dedicated fans to this date that play the game regularly and keep the active user numbers up and going.
- Free to play
The game’s main reason to reach its peak popularity was when “Fortnite: Battle Royale” came out as a free-to-play game in September 2017, and later “Fortnite: Creative” in December 2018. The game’s prior release however was “Fortnite: Save the World” which was a pay-to-play game released in July 2017. Being a widely available free game boosts the game’s chances to gain popularity, and we all saw that happen as Fortnite soar to incredible heights with the release of its free-to-play titles. As long as Epic games don’t change that, Fortnite will stay around as more and more people will keep trying it out and playing without having to worry about it being a pain in their pockets.
- Multiplatform support
Fortnite was originally released for Windows and Mac OS for PC, as well as consoles PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. But later released titles Battle Royale and Creative came with support for the Nintendo Switch, and mobile gaming for iOS and Android systems. This wide array of platforms made Fortnite gain a huge range allowing it to be accessible by nearly everyone, everywhere. Every individual on the planet could access the game somehow, which gives Fortnite a huge edge over several other games that are only playable on certain consoles.
Image Source: Source
Though as of August 2020, the controversy and clash over revenue between Apple and Epic Games have led to Fortnite being inaccessible on all iOS platforms, removing 2.5 million of its active iOS users from the active player user base. However, ever since, these players have migrated to different consoles and platforms for the sake of playing their beloved game, reminding us of the fact how dedicated and addicted players are and how this game isn’t going away anywhere soon.
- Skins and Character Customization
Often players that started playing Fortnite were confused why they have been assigned the opposite gender character. That is because Fortnite randomly assigns a character to every new player. However, that’s not the end to it as you can customize your character at will. New characters are unlockable and purchasable through V-bucks (an in-game currency). Several characters are also available on special events and occasions, such as St. Patrick’s Day, Christmas Eve, or the event of a movie release or international occasion. If you can’t seem to get your hands on a good skin at the most reasonable of prices then fret not, as we at Eldorado have a fine selection just for you to suit up your avatar. Click here and see what we and the players have to offer.
- Big events for the big game
The ever-popular game has some fantastic events which keep the players pretty much addicted to every update and season of the game. While almost every event brings new characters, weapons, items, and more, several of these are very impactful such as those that changed the maps entirely. A few notable events of this sort are the meteor event, the black hole event, and the “Doomsday Device” event. These events tend to lure in a huge amount of players especially when they are active. The recent Marvel-based event “Devourer of Worlds” in December 2020 had a total of approximately 15.3 million concurrent players.
- Live streams and content creators
Fortnite, and in particular the events it presents, not only attract thousands, or more often millions, of regular mainstream players but also content creators who share and stream their gameplay and content on other platforms such as Twitch and YouTube. This is why popular content creators like Ninja, Tfue, Nickemercs, and other popular content creators are the reason the game lives till this day as their streams and content serve as digital marketing for the game.
In short, Fortnite is still popular and is not going out of the limelight for a decent amount of time. It may become less relevant in pop culture or become replaced by a newer title release, but going completely out of the picture is highly unlikely. We’ve seen Fortnite survive countless controversies headed its way so we can expect it to survive whatever’s to come. Feel free to rest easy and enjoy your Victory Royale. Have fun gaming!