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'Fortnite' Creator Sees Epic Games Becoming as Big as Facebook, Google (variety.com)
The company behind "Fortnite" wants to become the next Facebook or Google, said Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney. The idea isn't much of a stretch. From a report: While "Fortnite" began life as a relatively mundane game it continues to evolve, first by adding a battle royale mode, and then by leaning on the game's massive install base to turn the title into something more akin to a social platform that can host concerts, tell stories, and inspire creativity. Sweeney points to the game's popularity as a "mass-market streaming phenomenon," the moment when "Fortnite" player teamed up with musician Drake in-game, and when the game played host to about 10 million people in a live, in-game Marshmello concert. "We feel the game industry is changing in some major ways," he said. "'Fortnite' is a harbinger of things to come. It's a massive number of people all playing together, interacting together, not just playing but socializing."
"In many ways 'Fortnite' is like a social network. People are just in the game with strangers, they're playing with friends and using 'Fortnite' as a foundation to communicate." Flush with a relatively recent $1.25 billion investment from a half-dozen investment firms and the steady flow of cash from both "Fortnite" and Epic Game's Unreal game engine, Sweeney has big plans for the company.
"In many ways 'Fortnite' is like a social network. People are just in the game with strangers, they're playing with friends and using 'Fortnite' as a foundation to communicate." Flush with a relatively recent $1.25 billion investment from a half-dozen investment firms and the steady flow of cash from both "Fortnite" and Epic Game's Unreal game engine, Sweeney has big plans for the company.
they are even attending concerts in Fortnite now,
I remember when SecondLife was hosting concerts and business meetings.
and lots of people watch streamers play
That's mainly good for Twitch, not Fortnite.
You've had one hit game. You're not a cultural revolution, snowflake.
SJW: Someone who has run out of real oppression, and has to fake it.
A lot of people in the other comments seem to have not understood what is being suggested here.
The summary talks about a virtual concert that was held with 10 million attendees, using the Fortnite game engine. They're not saying Fortnite the game is going to be this new social thing, they're saying that Fortnite's engine and existing player base is the basis for a new social platform.
If they swing it right, this could be the first online VR world that gets some semblance of mass adoption. It won't be quite like what is pictured in Ready Player One but that's the direction they're heading in.
I think given their existing fanbase and technology they're in a better position to achieve this than any of the other online behemoths. The only question is whether VR tech is good enough / cheap enough to achieve this, or if it's still not quite ready for prime time. Because if they can't use VR then this is likely to go the way that Second Life did - gain a respectable following and some mainstream mindshare, but eventually peter out.
Google, Apple, Microsoft and Amazon are all working on online game streaming services - Google and Apple have announced Stadia and Arcade and Microsoft and Amazon are going to announce theirs later this year. Nintendo and Sony appear to be missing. But what Epic are suggesting here is a different pivot that looks like it is ahead of the competition, which suggests they're ahead of the curve and therefore could rapidly hoover up a new market before anyone else gets a look-in, the way Amazon did with their cloud offering and Netflix did with online streaming.