What comes to mind when you think of Fortnite? A silly video game the kids are obsessed with right? Well, you would be partly right. Yes, it’s a video game the kids love. But so do adults. So much that Fortnite is the most played game of all time, and one of the most lucrative with over $3 Billion in sales. How has Fortnite been so successful in 3 years? Marketing.
All great tech begin with cool origin stories. In Fortnite’s case, it began as an internal game at Epic Games. launched with a mode called Save The World where you and your team defend against a never-ending horde of zombies who are hell-bent on taking over the the world. This was a stand-alone game users paid to play. Save The World remained in early access until June 2020. It was the Battle Royale mode that has brought so much success for Epic Games. In Battle Royale, you drop down either solo or with a squad, and you fight until you’re the last one standing. A simple premise, but super exciting. $3 Billion in sales exciting? Yes!
The Fortnite Community is one of the nicest you’ll come across.
One of the greatest challenges of online play has been gamer behavior. Many find courage behind the keyboard, and use racial epithets, act belligerent to other players, creating a toxic environment. Fortnite seems to be mainly immune to this. Players are genuinely helpful to newer gamers, chiming in to give assistance when needed. The ability to create your own parties made up of your friends or people you know lends to a more collaborative experience. With the introduction of computer generated Bots who played at the skill level of human players, Epic Games made it easier to jump into the fray. This is important because the game can be daunting to a newbie. Imagine jumping out the Battle Bus, landing and immediately being killed. Over and over again. Vets can play against other vets, and newer players can learn against players of similar skill level.
Fortnite is available on every platform allowing for cross-platform play.
Most games are either exclusive to one platform (PS4, X-Box, Switch,PC) or launch as an exclusive game for a set period of time on one platform. This is due to agreements made between the game publisher and the console maker. Each of these platforms have proprietary online platforms that allow their subscribers to play against each other for a fee. It’s a level of stickiness that ensures gamers don’t jump to another console/platform. Fortnite broke through by not only making their game available on all consoles, they also connected all gamers from all platforms allowing everyone to play against each other. Of course there are limits, but the premise is clear: you can find your friends here on Fortnite. Another benefit of connecting everyone on one online platform is the reduction in development time and costs. Think of it like this: Instead of buying ingredients for 4 different pizza pies and baking those 4 pies in 4 different ovens, you buy ingredients for 1 big pie, and bake it in one big oven. Freeing up resources and development time means there’s more time to focus on the game and the gaming experience, which leads to…
Familiar gaming experience with weekly updates keeps the play fresh.
Whether you’re diving into the game for the first time, or picking it up after an extended time away from Fortnite, you’ll discover the basic gameplay is still the same. Hop into the Battle Bus, jump out and dive down to your preferred landing zone, and go for glory. The button layout has stayed the same, which allows you to play reflexively and not deliberately. As video gamers will tell you, once you understand “the pattern” you’re good to go. With the familiarity comes weekly updates to the game. Battle Royale is played in Seasons. Each Season has 10+ weeks filled with a number of new challenges players complete to unlock skins, emotes, wallpapers, weapons wraps and V-Bucks. Currently we are at Chapter Two Season Four which features a crossover promotion with Marvel called ‘Nexus War’. Players have the opportunity to play as some of their favorite Marvel heroes like She-Hulk and Wolverine, even using their powers in Limited Time Mode games. This isn’t the first time Marvel and Fortnite have come together, which again, gives me a familiar product with while keeping the game fresh.
Collaborations make the Fortnite world the place to be.
Building a platform accessible to gamers all over the world provides incredible opportunities for collaborations across different mediums. Its success has brought about a level of cultural dominance rarely seen. Marvel and DC have both benefited from having crossed over into the world of Fortnite. Star Wars, John Wick, and Stranger Things used Fortnite as part of their rollout strategy. Borderlands 3, another video game had a section of the Fortnite map designed to look and feel like the Borderlands 3 world Pandora. DJ Marshmello performed a live concert in the game which was attended by over 10 million players. The NFL saw their players mimicking Fortnite dances as touchdown celebrations, and a lightbulb went off. Pretty soon, gamers were able to unlock jerseys from every NFL team, customize the number and unlock a number of football-themed emotes, tools and gliders. And then there was Travis. Travis Scott debuted new music in the form of an 9-minute video that was amazing and was viewed live by 27.7 million unique players. 12.3 million players viewed it in-game with millions more watching via Twitch and YouTube. You can check out the performance below. With the COVID-19 pandemic pushing people indoors, Fortnite is growing as a platform where traditional premiers and shows can be hosted reaching a global audience. That’s a win.
Fortnite is priced at a level that’s very attractive to most gamers.
A quick scan of the top video games of 2020, and you’ll see the average price is $49.99. Many times games come incomplete with large downloads to follow, and everyone sells downloadable content to extend the life of their game. Fortnite is free to download and play the Battle Royale mode. Save The World mode costs $15.99 now. You can play a Season in Fortnite free of charge. To access most of the challenges and unlock new customizations, you have to purchase a Battle Pass, which is 950 V-Bucks, their own in-game currency. Epic sells 1,000 V-Bucks for $9.99, as well as other combinations of V-Bucks at higher prices. Players use the V-Bucks to purchase skins, emotes and the fore-mentioned Battle Pass. Right out the gate, Fortnite comes in at a lower price point than every other new game. If you buy the Battle Pass, you can earn up to 1500 V-Bucks by completing the challenges. V-Bucks you can use to buy the next season’s Battle Pass. Let’s look at that from a different perspective. There are on average 4 Seasons a year in Fortnite. If you paid $9.99 for the first Season, you wouldn’t have to pay out of pocket for any additional seasons as long as you completed all the challenges to earn in-game V-Bucks. Epic creates tremendous value, and incentivizes you to keep playing the game. With weekly updates, new content to purchase, you will spend a few V-Bucks on The Renegade or that cool Domino character skin (guilty on both counts).
Good marketing follows the 5 P’s: People, Product, Price, Promotion and Place. Epic Games has a winner on their hands because they not only follow these principals, they understand there’s no point changing the secret sauce. As we type, players have spent over 10 Million years total playing Fortnite. It’s the most popular game by far, so when your young person turns on the game, take a minute to see what it’s like. You may learn a thing or two.
