
How Fortnite leveled up, broke records, and changed gaming - hownottowrite
https://www.vox.com/culture/2018/3/27/17163280/fortnite-battle-royale-save-the-world-explained
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Insanity
So they say:

"But another huge boost to the game’s popularity has been cross-platform play
— meaning you can play with your friends who are accessing it on a variety of
devices and platforms."

And it can run on iOS and soon Android as well.. but not Linux.

That's a bit of a shame, kind of curious to try that game out now but I can't
imagine gaming on Android / iOS is something comfortable.

~~~
Mononokay
It's especially ironic, given that the game is made by Epic, a company that
officially supports game development on Linux with their engine.

~~~
cma
I don't think the anti-cheat middleware they are using works on Linux.

~~~
thegeekpirate
This is correct—BattlEye does not currently support Linux, unfortunately.

I'd kill for Epic to throw some money at it =c

~~~
DiabloD3
The obvious question is: how is it running on Android? Purely as an Android
middleware, thus allowing more clever hacks through?

~~~
dogma1138
It doesn’t run currently on Android and BattleEye doesn’t work on iOS either
they don’t bother with anti cheat on mobile you just do root / jailbreak
detection as you can’t really cheat without them as you need to hook into the
memory and the network stack.

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tomc1985
I feel like Fortnite's success is the first major success in Epic's master
plan -- with that 5% rake on the Unreal Engine license they've got a back door
into the sales data for all their licensees. (And because of the openness of
their program, they have a lot more to peek into and, assumably, fewer
contractual obligations to them).

Can't help but wonder if they looked at PUBG's figures and saw their market
research done for them? I was looking forward to Fortnite as the Garry's-Mod-
meets-Left-for-Dead and its sudden emphasis on Battle Royale was a little
disappointing.

~~~
matt_s
Battle Royale wasn't in their plan though. They were making the PvE version
("Save the World") for a while (years) and had just released a beta version
you could buy over the summer.

I believe the story goes that just a couple of devs went off and made the
Battle Royale version to see if it would be fun to play.

------
wink
So it "changed gaming" because it's one of the current top games with record-
breaking user numbers? (The other one being PUBG)

I'm not so sure. Did World of Warcraft change gaming? It surely changed the
MMO scene, and they went from total niche market to being very openly
discussed and for a while (ca 2008 to 2014?) you found people _everywhere_
that didn't identify as gamers before, but got hooked on WoW. But did it
change "gaming"? I don't know, console gamers still play their console games,
there are some MMOs, but the majority is still single player/coop/small team
and I don't see the PC (non-RPG) gaming market being totally different since
WoW was released in 2004.

TLDR: Huge hit: yes. Changed a certain genre of games: probably. Changed
gaming: nope.

~~~
Kiro
> Did World of Warcraft change gaming?

The answer is "yes", which invalidates your whole argument. You should have
picked a better example.

~~~
Shivetya
If anything WOW has resisted the trend in MMOs where many have a well
developed free to play mechanic backed up by unlocking individual features and
content. Bioware's SWTOR does very well money wise with a much smaller player
base. The cartel shop is which is nearly all cosmetic is a huge source of
revenue. WOW is a relic from a previous generation of subscription only games
which started in the 90s and faded out by 2010 with very few relying solely on
subscriptions.

The future is subscriptions for steady defined bonuses backed up with digital
content which can be merely cosmetic or bonuses that don't exceed what a
subscription grants and can even enhance that. See Wargaming, which produces
games like World of Tanks, World of Warships, and more. You can be wholly free
to play or you pay to ease the grind. Working this way you let players get
midway into the game before the grind starts to be noticeable then sell them a
means to ease it

The pay to win loot box crowd may have finally killed their golden goose with
relentless greed brought to the forefront by some very large titles by well
known companies generating a lot of bad press.

There are countless small games on tablets and phones which pull in large
revenue for boosts and cosmetics.

~~~
skate22
Wow is free to play untill level 20. You can play at level 20 for as long as
you like, and upgrade / sub to unlock new content.

~~~
wink
I wouldn't call this free to play though. It's a free trial, so to speak.

Even the most decidedly non-hardcore "regular" WoW players would reach Level
20 in a month easily, whereas there's enough content to keep you occupied for
years even if you started just now.

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firewalkwithme
Make it look like a cartoon without too much blood so that children can play
it. Stuff it with memes and dances for children. Parents approve and ignore
the fact that the child is playing an extremely violent (and detailed) game
12hrs a day and gets rewarded for shooting other players in the head. Parents
pay up for lootboxes and micro transactions every time the child screams

~~~
matt_s
That is one perspective. My kids played Skylanders and Disney Infinity when
they were younger. Those games both had elements of shooting projectiles at
enemies to eliminate them.

Fortnite is rated T and not M because there isn't realistic violence. When a
player is eliminated a small flying object with an antenna shows up and it
looks like they are teleported elsewhere. There is no blood or corpse or
anything like that. It is not extremely violent enough to get an M rating like
Grand Theft Auto or Call Of Duty.

There are very unrealistic elements of the game, like a grenade launcher that
shoots large eggs (or snowballs in winter season), the fact that you can
rapidly build forts out of mined materials, and a boogie bomb that when thrown
at an enemy makes them dance for 3-5 seconds.

~~~
firewalkwithme
Yes I sort of agree, but I still think the game is centered around violence
and guns, the best gun, the most deadly gun, the recoil of a gun, the damage
of a gun, headshots, murder. The way my nephews speak now is sickening. And I
also think it is purposely crafted and targeted at children because of their
consumer power. See my reply below

~~~
pnloyd
Why is it all of the sudden the developers responsibility what children are
allowed to play and not the parents?

Young males seem to tend to be fascinated with violence video games or not.

~~~
firewalkwithme
It is not the developers responsibility. I am just speculating in why the game
is so popular

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cctt23
It does look like a fun game, and I’d like to play it, but not with the
obscene monetization strategy they employ. These modern freemium games are
downright toxic, and the only winning move is not to play.

~~~
mbrd
Real money for cosmetic items that give no advantage in-game is the only
IAP/freemium model that I will support. I’ve bought Fortnite skins, and
likewise on Starcraft II.

Other than being a little pricey, I don’t see any problem with Epic’s
monetization strategy with Fortnite.

~~~
gear54rus
and Id pay full game price just to not see those cancerous hats of yours. they
seriously mess with my snap aiming and if they interfere with gameplay, to
hell with them.

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eveningcoffee
It looks like an interesting game but it is from EPIC with a cancerous
business model.

~~~
Kiro
How is it cancerous exactly? The game is free and the only thing you can spend
money on is cosmetics.

