Ninja‘s comments on Fortnite’s future are pretty interesting.
Fortnite Battle Royale might not even be a year old, but it already has an esports scene. In fact, it is one of the most popular games in the world, with more than 145million downloads and Epic Games earning $1billion a month through revenue.
And all of this is from a new I.P that at first was playing second-fiddle to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds. With weekly Fortnite tournaments and teams such as TSM, FaZe, and most recently, Ninjas in Pyjamas all starting professional Fortnite teams.
The first Fortnite pro-circuit is set to kick off later this year, and there is already an $8million competition in the form of the Fortnite Summer Skirmish. It looks like Fortnite esports is just going from strength to strength.
Now, one of Fortnite’s most prominent players, Tyler “Ninja” Blevin has spoken on the longevity and future of the games esports scene with ESPN.
Ninja’s interview with ESPN
Epic needs to make sure that the tournament format is everything. Battle Royale’s are ‘RNG’. I think that getting as far away from that as possible, and developing the most consistent style tournament, bracket, layout, really is what going to give it the validation that it needs.”
And I think that is one thing that they are really focusing on. Making sure that it’s fun to watch. Esports is always about the most ‘competitive’, but I think you’re always going to get the top players rising to the top. But making as fun as possible to watch is [Epic’s] focus, and that’s important.”
The last point has been one of the most important things that have come out of not only Fortnite esports but competitive Battle Royale games in general. Many fans have been disappointed by proper BR events, with them being slow-paced and the game feeling nothing like it does in public matches.
With changes made to the latest Fortnite meta, it looks like Epic are trying to promote a more aggressive playstyle. However, with so much money on the line, people are naturally going to play more defensively.