Unless you’ve been living under a rock for the past year, you’ve probably heard of this gaming sensation. Fornite isa game released back in 2017, and has quickly becoming one of the most played games in the world, with millions of players to boast about.
With Fortnite wrestling to dethrone other massive online games, we had to as the question: Is Fortnite the new League of Legends?
Here’s what we think.
The story of how Fortnite grew so rapidly is quite fascinating, and it's fair to say that Epic Games pulled off an incredible feat. Originally released as a stand-alone sandbox survival game,it seemed like it would be a hit during development, but it just didn't the response it needed.
The developers quickly changed direction and made a radical decision that transformed Fornite into an unforgettable success. Epic Games were hungry to try something new, and with their work on Paragon - a MOBA game - they knew that players loved shooting other players.
This PvP game mode Launched in September 2017 and received considerable attention at the start of 2018. To put things into perspective, Fortnite had 83.3 million hours of viewership in February 2018 on Twitch and YouTube gaming. That's a lot of hours!
Currently, Fortnite is the most played battle royale game out there, crushing PUBG in players and viewing figures. Of course, this isn’t the first time there has been a huge cult following of a video game. League of Legends did it nearly 10 years ago and continues to be one of the most popular games out there. So just how similar is Fortnite to League of Legends?
Believe it or not, Fortnite is similar to League of Legends in a few different ways. From their business model to growth and marketing, both games have very close similarities. With League of Legends already being a huge success have Epic Games learned a thing or two from their studying of LoL?
The first similarity between the two is that they both use a free to play business model. League of Legends started off as a paid game but eventually, they moved to a free to play model which is supported by selling in-game cosmetic items. Just like LoL, Fortnite also started with a paid version for their PvE content (and still do!). However, the battle royale version is entirely free and has helped fuel the growth of Fortnite. Compared to other battle royale games such as PUBG, Fortnite is one of the only games that offer a freemium model.
Another similarity between the two games is that they have both used Twitch to grow their player base considerably. By taking advantage of popular online streaming platforms, both games have managed to win over millions of players.
With the huge success of the battle royale genre, could League of Legends also be looking to cash in on its success? Is there a League of Legends battle royale mode in the works?
It’s highly unlikely Riot are working on developing their own battle royale mode just due to the amount of time and effort that would be required. Instead, the could be investing those hours into making new skins and champions which players would actually enjoy. Not to mention that if Riot really wanted to make a battle royale mode, they’d most likely have to make an entirely new game.
The main problem is that the current map isn’t really big enough to handle a lot of players yet alone fly something over the top for champions to parachute out of. Not only would the map have to be considerably bigger, but it would also need room for loot locations throughout the map. All this planning and designing would take up a lot of time and stop Riot from completing their futures goal. It’s highly unlikely that riot would change the direction of LoL after they have spent the last few years working hard on its success, especially now that Teamfight Tactics is around.
As of 2019, League of Legends boasts at least 27 million players – while Fornite have recently celebrated reaching 250 million users, it’s not entirely known how many users play the game on a daily basis – there’s plenty of conflicting reports out there.
The number of players is not the be-all and end-all when it comes to the likelihood of a games long term success though, we must also take into account the amount of online buzz both games generate, as the more conversations a company sparks, the longer it lasts.
Fortnite dominated Twitch for a while, but recently it seems to have fallen more in line with League of Legends. Both games have their peak hours, but it’s safe to say that these titans of the gaming industry now draw in roundabout equal numbers of viewers.
One site on which League of Legends truly does shine, however, is Reddit;
The official League of Legends Reddit page currently boasts 3,276,958 users. In comparison, the Fortnite subreddit only has 1,127,431. You could make the argument that the League of Legends subreddit has had longer to grow; however, the amount of active members contradicts that.
At the time of writing this post, the League of Legends subreddit has 15,726 people active right now, whereas the Fortnite subreddit only has 7,313.
What does this signify? Well, it’s clear that more people are discussing League of Legends, at least on one of the most popular sites on the web, and that creates a sense of community – people tend to be loyal to their communities, which might lend League of Legends some longevity.
It’s also worth mentioning that Fortnite has a lot of media coverage at the moment, due to the fact that it has popularized the Battle Royale genre, and is giving League of Legends a run for its money as the top game out there. This cannot last forever though, and there are some signs that it’s decline may already have begun.
According to Google Trends, Fortnites popularity has risen and fallen since its release, however recently it appears to have plateaued in a ditch, as you can see here;
Now, League of Legends experiences these bumps too, which can be attributed to the influx of players swarming in toward the end of the season, all hoping to grab that they’ll get that sweet Victorious skin, before disappearing for a while. It’s worth noting that unlike Fortnite, LoL remains fairly consistent. Granted, it doesn’t regularly reach the number of searches it used to pull in, but it’s evident that it’s stood the test of time.
Overall, it’s impossible to say with 100 per cent certainty which game will do better, however, League of Legends has stood the test of time and remains as fresh as ever. In addition to this, the research we’ve presented above certainly appears to back up LoL’s longevity.
Fornite is a candle, the flame of which already shows signs of sputtering out. League of Legends, on the other hand, has the potential to last generations.
What do you think about Fortnite and the battle royale genre? Will it ever become as popular as League of Legends and other MOBAS? Let us know in the comments below!