In a recent interview with Engadget, the company’s CEO revealed that Fortnite has now eclipsed 250 million registered players. That’s the population of Russia, the UK, and Poland – combined. We can learn one vital rule from the newly-founded and growing country of – shall we say the United Republic of Fortnite-istan. It’s a very simple principle.
Easy Always Wins.
And the success of the game is a pretty remarkable testament to that one principle. Here’s how they created their success.
It’s easy to adopt.
Fortnite’s “Battle Royale” game is free to play. Now any mother of a gamer who just read that is laughing hysterically. That’s because, based on estimates, the game made $2.4 billion in 2018. Yes, that’s billion with a B. The revenue comes from an endless array of paid game modes and upgrades that allow the player to customize their avatar. Not your average revenue model (a.k.a. freemium), but the bucks (via V-Bucks) continue to roll in.
It’s easy to join.
In truth, the game itself isn’t groundbreaking. First-person shooters/battle royale games are – at this point – a big yawn. The vital secret to Fortnite’s success? Compatibility.
Right now you can easily join in with your friends, no matter their hardware. Fortnite runs on Windows, macOS, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android devices. Translation? Gamers get to effortlessly turn a game into a social activity. This is the essence of what makes Fortnite the inline gaming juggernaut that it is. Gamers can easily hang out with folks without the barriers of hardware compatibility.
It’s easy to share.
You can intuitively share skins, the V-Buck currency and even the gameplay itself. Twitch – an online channel where you can watch others play Fortnite – reported 100,386,623 viewer hours last month alone.
Another development that will make nervous parents a little less nervous is how easy it is to share within the gameplay itself. Players can be unusually altruistic with their teammates – doling out Medkits, weapons and even protecting players who have been injured.
So there you have it, worldwide adoption and record-setting growth by sticking a single, simple credo. Easy Always Wins.
When you embrace how time poor we all are. When you embrace that most users give you a scant 15 seconds before they give up and move on. When you embrace creating with the purpose of your audience in mind – winning with Easy will be, well, easy.