The future of Fortnite in 10 years

To celebrate Polygon’s 10th anniversary, we’re rolling out a special issue: The Next TenA discussion of the future of entertainment and games over the next decade by some of our favourite writers and artists. Here, freelance writer Jay Castello looks into the future of the industry’s closest thing to a metaverse: Fortnite.

How to establish it FortniteWhat it might look like 10 years from now, but first you need to identify what it looks like today. And that’s no easy task. A nonexhaustive list: FortniteThis is a game of cooperative defense towers. Fortnite This is an extremely popular free-to-play battle royale with building mechanics. FortniteIt is also an extremely popular free-to-play battle-royale that does not have any building mechanics. FortniteIt is an internet phenomenon that has helped hundreds of entertainers build successful careers. FortniteAn esport. FortniteIt is an ideal location for movie screenings and concerts as well as dialogues about race in America. FortniteThis tool allows game creators and users to share and create their own game modes. FortniteThis is an online storefront that sells cosmetic products and skin care items. FortniteMany consider it to be the nearest thing to a real metaverse.

In the next 10 year, none of these things will get easier.

“It does feel like Fortnite is a game divided,” says video essayist Chris Franklin, whose video “The Party That’s a Platform” These tensions are particularly relevant when it comes to fun, profit-oriented products and serious events. “I don’t know how they’re going to square that circle.”

FortniteIt began in Fortnite: Save the WorldIt was first announced in 2011. Early access to it was available in July 2017. The tower defense game, however, was made available to a landscape that had been dominated for decades by PlayerUnknown’s BattlegroundsIt was also a big surprise hit that March the following year with its release of. Epic Games, a development studio, responded quickly and published the game in just two months. Fortnite Battle Royale.

Battle Royale Rapidly eclipsed Save the WorldIts continued popularity, as well as its unstoppable success has made it the best game for the next decade. “I think it has achieved that level of cultural stickiness,” says Franklin. “It is, in a lot of ways, the Epic Games Store’s version of Counter-Strike. That original big thing that’s going to be permanently popular on that platform.” CS:GOWas It was released over a decade ago and still receives an average of 600,000.

These are the exact mechanisms that comprise the Fortnite Battle RoyaleThese are less obvious for 2032. The inclusion of buildings, which was borrowed from the past, once helped define the game. Save the WorldEpic has recently launched a mode that does not require any building. There are others, such as top FortniteSypherPK streams this method and believes it will grow in popularity due to its lower barriers to entry. This could also be a positive for competition, he argues. FortniteThe focus of esports is on build-based strategies. This is why esports has become so popular. FortniteIt is increasingly difficult to see, especially for newer players who don’t build. SypherPK expects a lower level of interest in the esport in terms both of player competition and viewership.

Epic Games

And regardless of what the battle royale mode looks like in 10 years, it’s been increasingly overshadowed by Fortnite’s other uses. Raph Koster CEO at Playable Worlds, who started developing virtual worlds in 1993, believes that the whole battle royale genre will become a success. Fortnite Battle Royale specifically, to “fade in popularity over time.” He predicts this will allow these other modes — and potentially new, as-yet-unconsidered ones — to take over.

The other important aspect is currently FortnitePlay Creative, which allows you to make your own games in a virtual sandbox. Koster views this as an option with a slow pace that can increase productivity. Fortnite’s longevity by preventing players from burning out and turning elsewhere. “The [battle royale]The social space and game [of Creative] reinforce one another — when you’re tired of one you can hop to the other, and vice versa,” he says.

Creative mode has been called “the future of Fortnite” by Aron Garst at Wired, and, like with streaming the battle royale mode, has already launched its own careers. Haley Urbanus, one such professional who learned design only by experimenting in her own environment. Fortnite. Atlas Creative, the studio that she works for, has collaborated with Target and Alienware to create custom maps. “I think players are going to grow out of battle royale and grow into Creative,” she says.

Many Creative maps get millions of plays, including one of Urbanus’ own, an underwater hiding game that has been played 45 million times. At the time we spoke, Epic had announced that Creative would be getting a “2.0” overhaul, though details weren’t yet available. But Urbanus thinks that it’s possible that in the future Fortnite players will get something close to Epic’s Unreal Engine as a tool for anyone to use.

Her prediction of major changes in the way these games are played by other players is another. “Right now we have this discovery [system] that is algorithm-based,” says Urbanus. “I would say maybe in the next five years [there could be] something similar to the Epic Games Store but for content creators.” She also mentioned the model currently used by other user-generated content games, like RobloxEpic is a marketplace where developers can offer their assets and games for a small fee.

“And then they’ll have another side of it where there’ll be other people that will be building in the metaverse and building their own open worlds,” says Urbanus. Urbanus says that the idea of the metaverse lurks in the background when the future is being discussed. Fortnitemention. Koster wrote a blog posting explaining that the metaverse is more than an online universe like an MMO, or multiverse. Roblox — or Fortnite’s current Creative mode. The metaverse integrates its self with the world. How? Fortnite might approach that isn’t yet fully clear, but it is on the table.

“[Epic Games CEO]Tim Sweeney made it very clear that he believes this. Fortnite heading,” says Koster. Sweeney called April. Fortnite “an aspiring metaverse platform.” (Epic did not reply to a request for comment about its ambitions for the game’s next decade in time for publication.) Koster claims that popularity of FortniteEpic has the advantage of owning Unreal Engine, which may allow it to use these advantages in its endeavor. But he believes it still has a long way to go “in terms of things like social complexity, freedom of action, and so on.”

It is not clear if its popularity will translate to its metaverse counterpart being very popular. “There’s just no interest from users [in the metaverse], really,” says Franklin. “Fortnite is popular because it’s a popular video game to stream and play with friends.”

It’s also popular because it has constantly evolved, right from the moment Battle RoyaleLaunched just weeks later Save the World. This growth will continue. “The concerts and events are very likely to become their own full-fledged mode soon,” says Koster. Franklin also envisions a spinoff “experiences” mode. “You can come here and you can see somebody’s childhood home, walk through a museum that’s in Rome, and then go to the moon and relive the Apollo 11 landing.”

What could it be? FortniteHow will the world look in 2032 Most likely, it will look like now with more of all the things. Franklin and Urbanus say that these core beliefs are the foundation of Battle RoyaleBoth Creative mode and Mode are expected to remain even as details evolve. However, FortniteIt will grow. “It’ll become a bit more like a carnival, with each of these other modes a ‘ride’ on the side,” says Koster. “There’s a reason why we call so many online worlds ‘theme parks,’ after all.”