“Can we finally answer the question ‘Is Fortnite Dying?’ Yes! All that and more, with math!”
Fortnite has dominated the games, YouTube, and streaming market for the better part of the last two years. As with any fad on social media, the question all over the internet (and in several meme communities) is, well, when will people get over it? Now, that question may have an answer, thanks to a new video by Evan Edinger.
Evan concludes, using Google trends, graphs and various equations in an effort, “to put the math degree to use somehow,” that Fortnite has seen a significant decline in popularity over the past 6 months – even more so in the past 90 days. Although the statistical trend implied by this conclusion is plausible, Evan reveals there’s more to the decline than just the shift in popularity and a multitude of streamers setting the game aside.
According to Evan and recent outcries by the community, one of the most noticeable pain points is the huge skill gap between new and experienced players, something only exacerbated by the quick rate of updates within a single season. These updates include new weapons, game modes, or vehicles that enable new styles of play. While this may make gameplay less stale in the long run for skilled players who play on a regular basis, it means that casual players hardly have a chance to get used to all of these mechanics before another significant change comes into play. According to Evan, Epic Games has become fixated on adding newer features rather than fixing issues with current or long time bugs in the game.
Other main issues with the game from Evan’s and many of the YouTube Gaming community’s view, is the very repetitive conclusion to every game. “Everyone tunnels, they build these little houses around themselves, and then they constantly do these quick edit, shoots, build back…and it just doesn’t look fun to me,” says Evan. “The game is a really fun concept. I love that everyone drops down and shoots each other and it’s actually quite fun. I like the building concept as well. But, the fact that the meta and the strategy for every single game strategically will always end the same.”
Evan concludes that the final reason why Fortnite is on the decline is the drastic differences in play style from console to PC. Personally, Evan is a console player, and doesn’t think that he will ever be able to truly compete on the same level as someone playing with a keyboard and mouse because of the disproportionate editing abilities. “As someone who just wanted to play and relax on his console, it made me feel like there was no point in me getting good at this game because there will always be someone obscenely better because of their play style just because they’re playing with a keyboard and mouse.”
All of Evan’s points appear to have high merit to them, the stark decline of Fortnite on Google trends being compelling enough, but only time will tell when the game finally succumbs to being completely replaced or overtaken on the games market.
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