How did Fortnite become a global phenomenon? Today on a very special Kotaku Splitscreen crossover episode, we try to figure that out.
First Kirk and I talk about Paris, Valve buying Campo Santo, Quantic Dream suing journalists, and Destiny 2 before weâre joined by Kotakuâs Gita Jackson and Patricia Hernandez of Fave This (43:57) to talk about how Fortnite got so popular and whether Nintendo Labo is as fun as playing with cardboard boxes.
Listen here:
https://player.megaphone.fm/PPY1378895225
Get the MP3 here, or read an excerpt:
Jason: Fortnite is the hottest game right now. Battle Royale, specifically. Patricia, youâve played a lot of Fortnite. Why is it so popular? How did it become this cultural phenomenon, where Drake is streaming it on Twitch and breaking records and every single high school in America is playing?
Patricia: I think the first thing anyone would tell you is that itâs free, but⌠That was obviously a big part of it getting started, but if you look at it right now thatâs definitely not whatâs made it a phenomenon. Like, you think Drake gives a fuck if this game is $60 or free? No, heâs playing it becauseâ
Jason: Hey man, heâs trying to save for a new console
Patricia: What it does better than the competition is, you look at something like PUBG and itâs all grit, all survival, itâs all about whoâs playing the best, whereas in Fortnite, they just added this weapon thatâs called a Clinger thatâs pretty much a sticky grenade, and itâs a plunger. You can stick your friend and use them to become suicide bombers, and people are riding around in rockets. I think itâs just a more fundamentally joyful game, in that youâre probably going to lose, but youâre also going to see something ridiculous, and I think people respond to that. Itâs just an innately cheerful game.
I think the way theyâve been doing updates is really interesting. Obviously every game is a service now, and every game has things happening once a week, twice a week, or whatever. But in this game I think thereâs a sense that you donât know whatâs going to go on when you log in. Today I logged in and thereâs aliens, spaceships in the sky, and all the TVs are given this emergency broadcast signal and I donât know why.
Kirk: That ongoing narrative, the fact that thereâs a comet and all this stuff going on, and people arenât sure what, and the state of the world is changingâis really cool. Can you describe that narrative a bit?
Patricia: For the last two weeks, thereâs been this thing that Epic, the developer of the game, hasnât explained, itâs just, you logged in and all of a sudden thereâs this weird thing in the sky. Youâre not sure if itâs a glitch or something. The game has this thing called the Storm and that creates things in the sky thatâs an anomaly, so youâre not sure if thatâs a thing. Then two days later it gets slightly bigger, and two days later it gets bigger, and all of a sudden youâre like, âOK, I guess this is a comet thatâs coming closer to the island?â
And then two days later it starts making this buzzing sound, and then all of a sudden a week later there are a bunch of smaller comets coming down. They havenât impacted anything, but everyoneâs obviously talking about this, because no matter where you look, it looks like thereâs going to be some sort of event going on. They havenât told anyone what it is, but everyoneâs thinking itâs going to end on April 30 with the current seasonâŚ
Jason: Itâs like season two of Game of Thrones
Kirk: It does strike me as, the differences youâre pointing out between PUBG and Fortnite, it strikes me that Fortnite is just branded so much better. Itâs so much more distinct looking. There are all these little silly things, the bus, and the fact that the weapons have these funny names. The characters have this look, and itâs all very stylized and branded. And then theyâre also doing the smart stuff with the communityâit seems like the sky is the limit for this kind of thing in this kind of game. And PUBG is very just, OK youâre a guy or a lady with a backpack and a gun⌠Fortnite just seems like itâs totally running away with all that.
For much more, listen to the full podcast. As always, you can find Splitscreen on Apple Podcasts and Google Play. Leave us a review if you like what you hear, and reach us at [email protected] with any and all questions, requests, and suggestions.
