Jana Godbole ’19 and Carly Cassaza ’19 have fun while playing Fortnite.
Video games have long been a popular way to unwind, hang with friends, or even procrastinate. Some games, such as Madden, NHL, or NBA 2K, allow you to compete against your friends in sports games, while others, like Call of Duty or Halo, prefer to play intense combat games. Choate is no different. Students here are lucky enough to have easy access to consoles such as Xbox and Wii in St. John Hall, where a wide variety of games can be played. While popular games such as Madden NFL, NBA 2k, and — a Choate favorite — Super Smash Bros. have been around for many years and are continuing to gain popularity, it seems they might have competition for the most played game at Choate.
Since Fortnite’s release in July 2017, the game has made around $1,000,000,000 dollars —$126 million in February 2018 alone — for its producer and has easily surpassed other popular games as the most played this year. However, the game is far from maxing its popularity; it consistently adds new features and changes that keep old users interested and draws new users to the game. It is certainly safe to say that Epic Games’ Fortnite is the game of the game of the year and could be for many years to come.
For those who do not know how Fortnite Battle Royale works, it can best be compared to a videogame version of The Hunger Games. The game begins when one hundred players drop form a flying bus onto an island to gather materials and survive as long as possible. Throughout the game, a storm begins to condense the large map into a smaller area, bringing the players into closer combat. You can win the game by being the last person remaining on the island. In addition to playing solo, the game can also be played in duos, groups of four, and even in a 50-versus-50 mode.
With a game like Fortnite Battle Royale, one has to ask how the game has become so popular and what features it has that makes the game so entertaining. First off, it’s free, and people like entertaining games especially if they are free. Epic Games makes its money from users buying costumes for their characters, and there are additional bonuses by paying significant amount of money.
V-bucks is the in-game currency that players can purchase and then use in the in-game store, which has new items added to it on a daily basis. Epic Games also has a Battle Pass that players can buy, which lets them unlock cosmetic items as rewards when they progress through various tiers by gaining experience points. Because Epic Games makes a lot of money when users buy skins and pay for the full Fortnite experience, it can make its battle royale game mode free for all to download.
Second, it’s a well-designed game. The Fortnite servers work better than most online games, despite the servers holding around 3.5 million players at a time.
Third, the game is available on PC, Xbox, Playstation, and mobile, making the game widely accessible for many different users who prefer a specific playing style.
The only downsides to the game are that it uses significant amounts of storage and requires a computer that can handle the software. If downloaded without the proper computer, it can cause the computer to crash and function poorly.
At Choate and around the world, Fortnite has had an epidemic growth. Kids have been playing more and more since Battle Royale’s release in September 2017 and with the recent Fortnite season four update. Bobby Lomax ’21 said, “It’s fun, you don’t get bored of it, and if you win it’s a great feeling.” When asked how much time he spends playing, he responded: “Too much.”
The Fortnite epidemic has hit Choate students hard. Students are continuing to play more and more as the game adds new features. Fortnite has even inspired other similar games such as Rules Of Survival. Has there been a drop in the overall Choate GPA as a result of Fortnite Battle Royale? Hard to tell, but no one can deny that it’s a great game that everyone who enjoys video games should at least give a try.
