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Fortnite is just a black hole right now
Fortnite just blew up its entire map and all that’s left is a black hole.
Some are speculating that this is simply a teaser for a new Fortnite map, but it’s unclear when that new map will arrive. On Epic Games’ status page, it says Fortnite is currently experiencing a minor service outage, noting “anomaly detected.”
As Kotaku reports, players this morning were only able to access a team fight mode called “The End.” That led to a massive explosion that resulted in a black hole.
Fortnite’s website is currently just a Twitch stream featuring a black hole.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) October 13, 2019
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Stranger Things portals have appeared in Fortnite
This summer has blessed us with a wealth of awesome television options, from Big Little Lies to Chernobyl to The Handmaid’s Tale. And the good times keep rollin’. Tomorrow, Stranger Things Season 3 drops on Netflix.
To celebrate, it would appear that Epic Games is adding portals in Fortnite’s Mega Mall.
Netflix’s Chris Lee, director of interactive games, confirmed on a panel at E3 that there would be more crossover goodness after fans noticed the Scoops Ahoy ice cream store, which is the same name of the ice cream parlor in the show, in the Fortnite Mega Mall. Today, portals (that look like the ones leading to the Upside Down in the show) were also added to the Mega Mall.
Here’s what it looks like when you enter the Portals… pic.twitter.com/PZskPcXq9u
— FortniteMaster | Stats, Guides, Esports, News (@FNMasterCom) July 3, 2019
These portals don’t actually transport you to the Upside Down, but rather to a separate shop in the Mega Mall.
Based on Fortnite’s past collaborations — the game did an in-game promo with Avengers: Endgame, Avengers: Infinity War and John Wick 3, to name a few — we can expect to see plenty more Stranger Things content on The Island starting tomorrow.
Fortnite has a growing revenue opportunity from these types of native advertising/marketing promotions. The Verge cites analyst firm SuperAnalytics in saying that Epic earned $2.4 billion in 2018, estimating the revenue earned from in-game purchases and BattlePass subscriptions. There was no mention of advertising revenue, however, which seems to be a growing segment for the company.
And let’s not forget, Netflix considers Fortnite to be bigger competition than HBO or Hulu. So it’s no surprise then, maybe, that Netflix is heading on over to The Island to promote one of its most popular original series this July 4 holiday.
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Fortnite Season 9 adds two locations and wind transport, but is mostly just new virtual items
It’s that time again. Parents across the world are doling out $15 to Epic Games after the developer released Season 9, the latest update for its hit game Fortnite that’s particularly popular among kids and young adults.
Fortnite is estimated to have more than 250 million players, and it has proven to be a major money-spinner for Epic thanks to sales of seasonal Battle Passes, skins and virtual items for avatars. That’s very much the focus for Season 9, which dropped today and is really about the cosmetics, with the latest Battle Pass unlocking more than 100 rewards, including a range of new skins and characters.
Season 9 is an upgrade that’ll keep existing gamers locked into Fortnite through evolution — there are no radical changes to excite new or less-active players.
In terms of gameplay, Fortnite has added two new locations. Neo Tilted replaces Tilted Towers, which was destroyed by a volcano eruption last week, then there’s Mega Mall, which is an upgrade on Retail Row. Epic has added “Slipstreams,” which are turbines that power a wind-based transport system for getting across the map quickly, and potentially adding an interesting new combat angle.
There’s also a new “Fortbytes,” which is essentially a hidden item challenge. Gamers who bought a Battle Pass can collect a series of 100 collectible computer chips that are scattered across the map. There are an initial 18 released, with a new arrival each day — those who collect them all can unlock rewards and “secrets.”
There’s just one new gun on offer, the combat shotgun, which doesn’t seem particularly impressive, while grenades have returned. A large number of weapons have been removed — or “vaulted” in Epic parlance — and they include clingers, pump shotgun, poison dart trap, scoped revolver, suppressed assault rifle, thermal assault rifle and balloons.
That’s about the sum of the new update, although Fortnite does now include three new limited time games: three-person squad “trios,” a “solid gold” mode that uses legendary weapons and “one shot,” a sniper-only battle set in a low-gravity environment.
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Where top VCs are investing in media, entertainment & gaming
Most of the strategy discussions and news coverage in the media and entertainment industry is concerned with the unfolding corporate mega-mergers and the political implications of social media platforms.
These are important conversations, but they’re largely a story of twentieth-century media (and broader society) finally responding to the dominance Web 2.0 companies have achieved.
To entrepreneurs and VCs, the more pressing focus is on what the next generation of companies to transform entertainment will look like. Like other sectors, the underlying force is advances in artificial intelligence and computing power.
In this context, that results in a merging of gaming and linear storytelling into new interactive media. To highlight the opportunities here, I asked nine top VCs to share where they are putting their money.
Here are the media investment theses of: Cyan Banister (Founders Fund), Alex Taussig (Lightspeed), Matt Hartman (betaworks), Stephanie Zhan (Sequoia), Jordan Fudge (Sinai), Christian Dorffer (Sweet Capital), Charles Hudson (Precursor), MG Siegler (GV), and Eric Hippeau (Lerer Hippeau).
Cyan Banister, Partner at Founders Fund
“In 2018 I was obsessed with the idea of how you can bring AI and entertainment together. Having made early investments in Brud, A.I. Foundation, Artie and Fable, it became clear that the missing piece behind most AR experiences was a lack of memory.
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Epic Games CEO says Apex Legends hasn’t made a dent in Fortnite
In the wake of Apex Legends, which has briskly grown to 50 million players, many have wondered whether Fortnite has felt the impact.
But Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney told GamesBeat that Apex hasn’t really made a dent. Without being asked about Apex Legends, Sweeney said “an Apex Legends worth” of players have come over to Fortnite.
“We’re very close to hitting 250 million Fortnite players,” said Sweeney. “Since Apex Legends came out, we’ve gained an Apex Legends worth of Fortnite players, which is amazing.”
He went on to say that the only game that noticeably takes Fortnite gamers away from Fortnite is FIFA.
“We hit a Fortnite non-event peak twice after Apex was out,” said Sweeney. “We haven’t seen any visible cut into Fortnite. It’s a funny thing. The only game you can see where its peaks cut into Fortnite playtime is FIFA. It’s another game for everybody, wildly popular around the world.”
On the one hand, Apex only has about one-fifth of the players that Fortnite has. In a world where Netflix sees Fortnite as a greater threat than HBO, the scale of the two games isn’t comparable.
However, Apex is picking up some serious steam. It only took seven days for Apex to hit 25 million users (it took Fortnite 41 days), and one month to hit 50 million users (it took Fortnite more than four months).
As impressive as that is, it’s also to be expected that a game like Apex, a relative latecomer to the Battle Royale genre, would grow faster by reaping the benefits of the entire industry’s years of work and growth. It’s also worth noting that EA paid a pretty penny to successfully launch Apex Legends, with Ninja alone earning $1 million for streaming the game at launch.
“What Apex Legends has done is re-energized a lot of shooter players, people who come in and out of shooters depending on what’s popular,” said Sweeney. “It’s awesome to see other games picking up on battle royale, adding their unique spin to it and advancing the state of the industry.”
Adding a unique spin is exactly what Apex Legends has done. They’ve taken the fundamental building blocks of Battle Royale and the free-to-play model and tweaked them to be, in some ways, better.
Where play is concerned, Apex is a markedly team-oriented game, complete with a beautifully executed non-verbal comms system and a Jumpmaster mechanic to encourage teammates to land and play as a unit. Plus, Apex uses a hero system to give each character their own unique abilities.
This not only makes each fight interesting, but it gives Apex a different way to monetize beyond its recently launched BattlePass. The company just introduced its first new character, which can be unlocked with Apex Coins, the games virtual currency.
Only time will tell if Respawn and EA can build something as sticky as Fortnite, which has truly become a pop culture phenomenon. But there is one clear winner in this epic competition between Fortnite and Apex, and that’s gamers.
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‘Fresh Prince’ actor dismisses his Fortnite dance lawsuit
“Fresh Prince” star Alfonso Ribeiro has dropped his lawsuit against Fortnite creator Epic Games for using without his permission his “Carlton” dance as an emote in the popular game.
According to documents filed in an LA court, Ribeiro voluntarily dismissed the suit. He had already dropped a suit against Take-Two Interactive similarly related to his dance. Last month, Ribeiro was denied a copyright for his dance by federal officials, which seemed to put the nail in the coffin for his lawsuit.
The “Carlton” dance seems to be pretty immediately recognizable for its dorky arm-swinging maneuver, but that didn’t cut it for copyright officials. In the U.S. Copyright Office’s statement denying Ribeiro’s copyright claim, their detailed that his copyright was being refused because the work was a “simple dance routine” and thus wasn’t registrable as a choreographic work.
On one hand, original creative expression should always incentivize creators to keep pushing boundaries. On the other hand, singular dance moves are a bit of an annoying thing to copyright, though I still certainly understand the sentiment. Perhaps it’s for the best that future copyright trolls will have one less arena in which to file suit.
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Fortnite Season 8 is now available, and it includes pirates, cannons and volcano lava
Fortnite, the world’s most popular game right now with some 200 million players, has just announced that its much-anticipated Season 8 is available.
For those of you who don’t play Fortnite, the title takes an episodic approach with new features, tools and maps released every few months. That keeps things fresh, gamers engaged and the money flowing as each new season offers a Battle Pass, which costs around $10 and unlocks a load of goodies, including skins and emote dance moves.
Season 8 is pretty much what the leaks this week suggested. The theme is pirates, with new skins that include a gigantic banana suit, pirates and snakes, and pirate cannon is a new weapon that’s been added. Cannons can dish out 100 damage when there’s a direct hit, or administer 50 damage on those in the impact area — it can also be used to fire players to new locations.
The map is also a major Fortnite focus, and Season 8 has added lava to the existing volcano. Stepping on lava gives players one damage point per touch while there are volcanic vents that can be used to send a player or vehicle into the air using a gust of hot air. There’s also a range of treasure to be found inside pirate ships, another new addition (which is where the cannons can be found).
On the gaming-playing side, the major addition is “Party Assist” mode, which lets players bring their friends into Fortnite’s daily or weekly challenges. Those challenges are important to players because they unlock treasures, including skins, and, in fact, those who played Season 7 could earn a free Battle Pass for Season 8 by completing the right challenges. That might have saved a few million parents $10.
(By the way, if you’re struggling to load the game, that’s because scheduled maintenance kicked off at 4am EST in preparation for the new season launch — you can find more info on the status page here.)
Those are the main additions, though game-maker Epic Games has chucked in a few little touches — including extending the somewhat comical “infinite dab” feature from 11 hours to 12, meaning that your character will keep dancing a little longer when left in the lobby.
I can’t help but think Season 7 was a greater leap — as the addition of planes and ziplines really changed how players get around — but we’ll have to see how the gaming public reacts. This time around, a lot of the focus is on skins and emotes, rather than features.
A recent report suggested Fortnite’s revenue had dipped in January, but that was pretty unfair because it’s the month that followed a surge in spending around the December Battle Pass and also, more generally, a surge around the Christmas holidays.
Sources told us recently Epic Games banked $3 billion in profit across its entire business in 2018, thanks in particular to Fortnite, and it needs to keep its season releases compelling if that streak is to continue. There’s a lot riding on Season 8, particularly as credible rivals emerge.
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Fortnite Season 8 is about to kick off — here’s what to expect
Fortnite Season 8 is almost here. There’s a lot we don’t know — most things, really — but the long wait will be over soon. If you can’t stand the anticipation or the requisite server downtime, we’re here to speculate so you’ll be mildly less bored. It worked for us.
If Fortnite’s snowy Season 7 felt like it was dragging on through winter, things look to be warming up and melting out. Epic’s hinting makes it pretty clear that Season 8 will be a maritime adventure of some kind, swapping abominable snowmen for… pirates. There have been other watery clues though in recent days those expanded on what we assumed to be a marine theme of some kind, suggesting the map may soon be crawling with sea-faring marauders.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) February 28, 2019
If you combine the four pieces of an image teaser for the new season, you’ll clearly see a skull-looking situation with a hook hand on the right side and a… dragon-like creature (viper? scaly dude?) on the left. Below those images there’s a more clear dragon/monster creature and um, a freaked out looking banana. Because Fortnite.
‘X’ Marks The Spot
Treasure abound
Loot that has been lost
Can always be found.
4 days to Season 8. pic.twitter.com/1U8n7x4pQQ— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) February 24, 2019
Here’s the complete image of all four Season 8 teasers! #Fortnite pic.twitter.com/JLM952boz8
— Fortnite News – fnbr.news (@FortniteBR) February 27, 2019
Update: According to an Xbox leak, that right-side dragon creature actually could be a tiger mask that’s one of three featured Season 8 skins. Unfortunately, that tiger skin is so sweet I’ll probably have to play continuously until I get it, even though this game and I are on a break right now.
Xbox with the screw up this time! #fortnite #fortniteseason8 pic.twitter.com/QMNP3pgkcK
— fortnite leaks and news
[1.5K] (@fortniteleaks14) February 28, 2019
The red background and shape under the figures is distinctly lava-inspired, so we’re expecting a volcanic and or tectonic event to impact the map in some way that’s probably going to be centered around Wailing Woods, which has become brown, fissure-ridden and crispy in the last few days.
Then again, dragons can also make things pretty brown and crispy… as could a volcano full of dragons. And of course there’s the mystery of the dragon eggs below the castle made of ice. Will they turn out to be related to Season 8’s map transformation? Maybe, maybe not!
Sensing a theme…
Beyond the thematic elements, Fortnite players should also expect some kind of new mass server-wide live event to whisk them into the fresh season. Some people think this will be a volcanic monster with billions of HP that everyone has to take down across servers, and given the scaled imagery and impending volcano situation, that’s as good a guess as any.
Beyond pirates, dragons, volcanoes and assorted oceanic stuff, we don’t really know what else to expect yet, but knowing Epic’s penchant for maximalism, it’ll probably be, well, epic. One thing we do know: You should take one last joyride in the clouds because planes are set to be vaulted. Maybe players will be flying dragons this time tomorrow — that’s fine! Fly whatever you want, fly it in your banana suit, just please, please lock the plane noise in the vault for good.
Ahoy, mateys! Season 8 approaches and X marks the spot!
Downtime begins tomorrow, February 28 at 4 AM ET (0900 UTC).
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) February 27, 2019
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Fortnite’s revenue dropped 48% in January but the lull likely won’t last long
If you thought Fortnite was looking mortal, you might want to reconsider.
New numbers from SuperData show that the Fortnite juggernaut lagged by one meaningful measure at the start of this year. Revenue from the game across platforms dropped by a hard-to-ignore 48 percent between December 2018 and January 2019. As the report notes, December was a peak month for the multiplayer third-person shooter, with Fortnite fever in full swing and holiday purchases driving revenue to record levels.
While a 48 percent revenue drop might sound like a mortal wound, the game’s unique sales model and seasonal trends mean that we shouldn’t start prepping any Fortnite obituaries any time soon. With a free-to-play model, Fortnite relies on in-game purchases of digital goods like dance animations and elaborate character skins to drive revenue. With no recurring subscription fees apart from quarterly season passes, Fortnite’s revenues were never going to track a more traditional game’s numbers.
Case in point: Fortnite maker Epic looks to have socked away $3 billion in profit over the course of last year. By November, data from Sensor Tower estimated that Fortnite players were spending $1.23 million a day just on iOS. Given Fortnite’s platform agnosticism, that’s just one stream of many, from mobile to console to PC.
For Fortnite, a dip in revenue also doesn’t necessarily indicate declining user numbers or less play overall — it just means people were less likely to spend money on virtual goods. Those purchases are purely cosmetic and don’t confer a meaningful competitive advantage, so it’s kind of a strange metric to judge the game’s overall current health, though obviously an important one for the business of the game.
A game like Fortnite is designed to be cyclical, with players rotating in as fresh content debuts. In December, Fortnite’s new Season 7 release converged with the holidays, making for a potent revenue-driving combination as players bought up new virtual goods, explored a reimagined map, had more time to play and had new devices to try out. By January, players were itching for the next major update.
“This is no doubt due to the fact that Season 7 began in December. We historically see a significant increase in Fortnite mobile revenue during the months when a new season debuts, as the player base purchases Battle Passes en masse,” Sensor Tower’s head of mobile insights Randy Nelson told TechCrunch.
“Substantial decreases in the subsequent month after a new season are not new; Fortnite revenue on iOS declined 33 percent between October and November 2018 based on our estimates, from $56 million to $36.6 million… In short, these peaks and valleys are common when looking at games based around season pass monetization on a schedule such as Fortnite’s.”
Overall, the January SuperData numbers show a 6 percent year-over-year decline in digital gaming across the board. If Epic was poised to see Fortnite hit stratospheric user and revenue growth last holiday season, the real test will be seeing if the game can keep its momentum all the way through 2019 as emerging competitors vie for a piece of the pie. With Season 8 due to infuse the game with a wave of fresh digital goods later this week, we should have a pretty good idea of Fortnite’s staying power by the time the new spring content is starting to go stale.
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Fortnite goes big on esports for 2019 with $100 million prize pool
Epic Games, maker of the ultra popular Battle Royale game Fortnite, is putting up another $100 million in prize cash for competitive tournaments in 2019.
The company made waves in the esports world last year, announcing a $100 million prize pool for the 2018 competitive year, dwarfing every other competitive title in one fell swoop.
This year, a significant portion of the $100 million will be awarded to participants of the first-ever Fortnite World Cup. Each of the 200 players who qualify and compete will walk away with at least $50,000, with the winner taking home $3 million.
The Fortnite World Cup will take place July 26 – 28 in New York City, offering $30 million total in prizes. One hundred of the top solo players will be invited, along with the top 50 duos teams.
So how do you get in on this?
Fortnite is holding weekly open online qualifiers, each worth $1 million, from April 13 to June 16. Eligible players who consistently place well will have a shot at being one of those top 200 players.
This announcement comes at an interesting time for Fortnite. While the game still reigns supreme in terms of popularity, other Battle Royale games are picking up traction. Apex Legends (an EA and Respawn title), in particular, is growing in popularity. Several of the top Twitch streamers, including Ninja, Shroud, Timthetatman, High Distortion and Annemunition have started playing more Apex and participated in the first Apex Legends Twitch Rivals tournament.
Keeping the attention of these streamers is surely a priority for Fortnite, and for a game that pulls in some $300 million a month in in-game purchases, spending $100 million a year is a small price to pay.
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