From Thanos to Omega: How Fortnite Managed to Tap into the Growing eSports Market

There are many video games out there for all tastes ”“ but few are like Fortnite Battle Royale. This amazingly popular survival game that takes the player on a post-apocalyptic battle royale, where they have to fight each other to the death, has found a way to have it all. It is fast-paced and exciting. You can knock yourself out taking enemies out. It supports solo and multi-player versions. It is free to play. And now, after popular demand, it has superheroes!

Fortnite Contributes to eSports Rise ”“ and Boasts One of the Biggest Prize Pools

Produced by legendary development studio Epic Games, the meteoric rise of Fortnite is a testament to the increasing appeal of eSports as a market. Tournaments are regularly held for all major video games, like League of Legends and Dota 2, where significant money prizes are at stake. Fortnite has recently become one of the most lucrative eSports: in May 2018, Epic Games announced that it would offer $100 million in total for prize pools in competitive play for the 2018/2019 period. Dota 2 still leads the game with a total prize pool of $141 million, while Counter-Strike: Global Offensive claims a pool of $53 million, just a little bit ahead of League of Legends with $52 million. There is even a dedicated eSports betting market: online sports betting provider Betway now has a separate category for eSports. After the fever of the World Cup is over, for example, the FIFA eWorld Cup is taking place in August, where Nicolas99FC is priced up at 5/1 to win. It wasn’t long ago that this kind of pursuit would seem strange – now it’s big business! Recently, Fortnite aficionados battled it out at Hashtag Con, at the largest Fortnite live arena tournament held to date in the US. Typically more than 100,000 flock to Hashtag Con, where the prize in the Fortnite competition was $10,000.

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Fortnite Season 4 Reaches out to Superheroes ”“ and a Super Villain Answers

The updates leading up to the launch of the latest Season 4 for the popular game teased us mercilessly with a superhero theme, with tweets of images that reminded fans of superhero icons like Wonder Woman and the Flash. Now that the game is finally here, it has certainly lived up to expectations and introduced some interesting crossovers into the superhero world. This move seems to tap into the recent success of superhero culture, with blockbusters like Black Panther and Avengers: Infinity War scoring very highly in the box office. In fact, shortly after Infinity War was released to the theaters in April 2018, an amazing crossover took place between the two franchises. Starting May 8, Thanos became available as an option for players ”“ for a limited time only. The “Infinity Gauntlet Limited Time Mashup” for Fortnite saw the Infinity Gauntlet, the artifact that the supervillain of Avengers so much desires, get into play. The player that would track it down on the map and collect it would see themselves transformed in none other than the purple titan himself.

Battle. Adapt. Win.
Season 4 Coming Soon pic.twitter.com/dLDnEXw8u0
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) April 26, 2018

New Superhero-Themed Locations and Skins: Is There More to Come?

Season 4 seems to build on that superhero momentum. After the meteor hits the Fortnite world and destroys the Dusty Depot, new places are revealed on the map. There is one dubbed the Superhero Mansion, a little bit further down from Lonely Lodge, perfect for superhero secret meet-ups. And there is the Super Villain house, for even-more-secret meet-ups of villains, as the name and its skull shape suggest. One other major addition is the head-turning superhero-themed new skins that are now available in the game along with other new features. Some of them appear somewhat familiar and might actually be based off popular superheroes. The Omega skin looks eerily similar to Black Panther, while the latest Battlehawk skin reminds us too much of Deathstroke, a legendary villain in the DC universe, or at least anti-hero Deadshot ”“ both of them don an eye patch, for example. The Valor skin also looks very similar to the layout of Wonder Woman’s uniform ”“ or maybe even Starfire, another DC female superhero. The changes have been very well-received by the approximately 45 million gamers who are playing Fortnite.

Every improvement that Fortnite has made so far, has only served to further excite fans all across the globe ”“ and bringing superheroes into the game is certainly a step in the right direction!