Lately the competitive gaming scene has been more popular than ever. This is due to the popularity of the game Fortnite. Fortnite is a battle royale game made by Epic Games. It is different than most games in many ways and that is why it gained so much popularity… because it is something different. Many people are interested in the popularity of Fortnite and how some actually play this game for a living.

In February of 2018 Fortnite reached 3.4M concurrent players, which means there was 3 million people all playing at once. This was record breaking and put Fortnite ahead of every game on the scene. At this point Fortnite was not even a half year old and it already passed every other Battle Royale game in popularity. This was mainly due to the big YouTubers and Twitch streamers bringing a lot of attention to the game. There are pro Fortnite players such as Ninja, Tfue, and Daequan who play this game for many hours a day and make a lot of money off of it. Before Fortnite’s arrival no one really knew who these people were but now anyone who plays fortnite knows them. In an interview back in March 2018 Ninja stated he makes 500k+ a month simply from playing fortnite. This is due to his 18+ million subscribers on YouTube and his large following on Twitch.

Due to these Youtubers becoming very wealthy from Fortnite there are a lot of people trying to follow in their footsteps. If you go to YouTube or Twitch there will be thousands of people streaming the game with viewers ranging from 150k+ all the way down to around 1 or 2. There are a few people at Grandville High School who are known throughout the school for streaming Fortnite and attempting to make it big. One being Marty Rodriguez, and when asking Marty his motivation to start streaming he said, “My friends always noticed how good I was at video games and Fortnite in particular. They eventually convinced me to make a YouTube and to upload and stream.” When I asked him how he keeps up with it he said “I just really enjoy doing it, I get to play a fun game with my friends while some of my friends watch along with some strangers. I also get to interact with my viewers which is also really cool.” I asked Marty what his favorite thing about streaming Fortnite is and he said “I figured out I have the ability to entertain people by just playing the game and talking to my viewers. I have a lot of fun while I do it and to see that people subscribe to my channel and watch me consistently which is very cool and really motivating.” Prior to playing Fortnite with Marty, we had never talked before. Once people started telling us to play together we developed a good friendship that would have never happened if Fortnite wasn’t around. There are many positives to Fortnite such as making money, playing with friends and making new friends while there are very few cons, if any.

Another reason that Fortnite has come to be such a popular game is the competitive/pro scene. There are large tournaments held for very prestigious players to compete to earn cash prizes. The PAX summer skirmish tournament winner went home with a million dollars. There are small tournaments every day with rewards ranging from all different values. People play every day to try and get better and gain popularity to make money and qualify for tournaments. Playing fortnite everyday is looked at by many as a dream job. For someone who doesn’t know much about fortnite, here’s a video (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bluiXRc-uU8) to give you some insight as to how one of the best players in the world plays this game.