The battle royale genre has been gaining incredible amounts of ground in recent time and since Fortnite was released last year there aren’t many gamers that have gone unaware of this game’s success. As the eSport industry has shown a steady growth for a very long time, many have been asking themselves when and if Fortnite will succeed as an eSport game. To shed some light on this, we have taken a look what is speaking in favor of the game making it and what possible obstacles there are that it may need to overcome.
Top 5 factors for Fortnite succeeding as an eSport
Navigating the net it’s clear that plenty of people have high hopes for Fortnite and believe that the game has what it takes to make it as a big title in the eSports industry. Not only fans are supporting this notion, but eSports betting communities such as eBetFinder are also envisioning a very bright future of the competitive side of the game. Having a look at the top 5 factors for Fortnite succeeding as an eSport it certainly becomes clear why these opinions exist.
1. The game has a huge player base
With the game only being released for about a year, it has already reached a stunning number of 125 million players and have had 3.2 million playing at the same time. To put this into perspective, one of the most popular eSport games of all time, CS:GO, have only peaked at 850 thousand concurrent players since January 2016.
2. It’s accessible on several platforms and it’s free
In contrast to many of today’s successful eSport games, Fortnite is not only available on PC, but can be played on Xbox One, PS4, Nintendo Switch and a mobile device as well. This makes the game accessible for a broader audience, which is a big plus when it comes to making it as an eSport. It’s also completely free.
3. Watching Fortnite is incredibly fun
With up to 100 players battling it out on a map that is constantly shrinking in size and a match only lasting for about 20-25 minutes, there are never any boring moments in Fortnite. From the start to the finish of a match, this is filled with action packed encounters making the game a great choice for munching on popcorn and enjoying its eventful excitement.
Don’t just take our word for this, but check out the twitch hour statistics and you’ll get a good idea that the game is worth watching. It’s topping the charts with nearly twice as many hours viewed as the second placed League of Legends, which many consider to be the most successful eSport game to date.
4. It’s easy to understand the game
Unlike MOBA’s such as Dota 2 and League of Legends that have a lot of mechanics, different heroes and advanced strategies, Fortnite is incredibly easy to understand. The players are building some structures, picking up loot and running around killing each other. This simple, yet entertaining gameplay makes it possible for more than just people that have played the actual game to enjoy matches of it, which definitely speaks in favor of a flourishing eSports scene.
5. Enormous investments are being made
Last, but definitely not least, a huge amount of money is being pumped into the eSport vertical of Fortnite. In April this year we could read about the mighty Tencent investing $15 million to promote the competitive scene of the game and in May this was followed by an announcement that Epic games will add $100 million to tournament prize pools taking place during the 2018 – 2019 season.
If this amount of money hasn’t already blown your mind, let us inform you that this is almost twice as much as the prize pools offered for CS:GO since the game was launched 6 years ago. It is in other words an incredible sum and with this Fortnite, by far, will become the biggest eSport game by prize money.
Top 3 obstacles that are holding Fortnite back
After reading all of the factors that are suggesting that Fortnite will succeed as an eSport, we might have erased all doubt that this game will make it. It’s true that there undoubtedly are some very strong forces pushing the game into a competitive direction that will flourish, but there are also three obstacles that are holding the game back, which might need to be addressed.
1. Randomness of the loot
In Fortnite the weapons and all of the materials you get are randomly scattered throughout the map and while this isn’t a huge problem when playing casually, is it really a good idea to ever have a random feature possibly determining the results of a competitive match? You could argue that it’s the same conditions that apply for everyone and it is, but what if a lesser skilled team is winning just because they happened to have the better roll of lady luck’s dice, hence getting the better loot? Would that really be fair and an acceptable way to crown the best team in a tournament?
2. Map shrinking randomly
As is the case with the loot, the map shrinking in Fortnite is completely random and this may also be to a disadvantage for those that pull the short straw. Being positioned inside the final battlefield is usually better than being forced having to cross over the borders of it.
3. Camera focus with a huge amount of players
The last obstacle that Fornite faces is how competitive matches will be translated to the viewers in a good way. With a huge amount of players participating in every match, who should the camera be focused on? Action is happening everywhere all the time and you can’t just have one single camera switching between all of these players and places.
What most fans would probably like to see is a solution with several cameras that makes it possible for the viewer to choose which player that he would like to follow. However, even if this happens how will the commentary of the matches be handled?