Epic Games' battle-royale gaming phenomenon Fortnite blacked out on Sunday afternoon, with the entire game map being sucked into a black hole, per The Verge. Along with the in-game event, Epic also wiped out posts across Fornite's social media channels.
Business Insider IntelligenceThe blackout ended early Tuesday morning with the launch of Season 11 — also being referred to as Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 1 — with a new map and new features. Yesterday, the trailer for Fortnite Chapter 2 leaked, revealing a new map, new ways to level up, and new modes of locomotion like boats, swimming, pogo sticks, and the ability to carry players.
Fortnite's magnetic draw was on display with the massive audience that watched the aftermath — which was more or less a blank screen — across various platforms. At one point, millions of users were simply watching the suspense of a relatively static image of a black hole across platforms including Twitter, YouTube, Twitch, Facebook Gaming, and Mixer.
On Twitch, there was a massive spike in viewership, peaking at about 1.7 million viewers, compared with an average daily viewership of about 84K across Fortnite channels on Twitch in the month of September. That sense of mystery and drama is part of what makes the game universe so compelling to fans, and capable of generating prolonged engagement.
Despite its committed fanbase, Fortnite has experienced some signs of gamer fatigue and slowing revenue — this high-profile reboot could help it reinvigorate fans. Fortnite is free for all 250 million of its users and generates revenue almost entirely through in-game purchases of skins (outfits for avatars), dances, and different game modes. Although Fortnite still ranks the highest in in-game spending compared with rival games, its revenue has been in decline: As of May 2019, the game brought in $203 million across all platforms, down 38% year-over-year (YoY), per SuperData.
And in-game purchase loyalty was higher month-over-month on rival game Apex Legends than on Fortnite in July 2019: On Apex Legends, 62% of players who made a purchase in June did so again in July 2019, versus just 49% of players on Fortnite, per Edison Trends. As a result, Fortnite is under some pressure to renovate the in-game experience in order to boost audience interest and spending levels. And if its leaked trailer for Chapter 2 is any indication, the company is looking to do exactly that by both adding new gameplay features and releasing new digital goods.
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