Fortnite Takeover

Conner+Darnell+plays+Fortnite+in+his+dorm+room%2C+like+many+other+students+at+Allen+Community+College.

Conner Darnell plays Fortnite in his dorm room, like many other students at Allen Community College.

Austin George, Features Editor

A popular new video game released this fall has taken Allen Community College, and the rest of the world, by storm. Fortnite has broken record after record. Considering it is a free to play game, it brings in over $100 Million a month in in-app purchases. In February, it hit a record of 3.4 million people playing the game all at once, while its overall player base has reportedly passed 45 million, according to Vox. Fortnite is a shooter, but not too violent for younger players.

A recent record-breaking video game stream of Fortnite on Twitch, saw 628,000 people watching at once. The reason it was record smashing was clear. Drake decided to play with a twitch streamer named Ninja, who currently is one of the top Fortnite players. They also played with hip hop artist Travis Scott and Pittsburg Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith Shuster, which brought a diverse audience to the stream.

It brought people together and it changed gaming forever. Definitely a nominee for game of the year.

— Conner Darnell

Conner Darnell, a sophomore baseball player, streams on Twitch in his free time. Like millions of others, his go to game is Fortnite. Darnell has also competed in a few tournaments with some friends. “It’s definitely the most competitive game out right now,” Darnell said.

Fornite offers both online and offline features. The online feature is 100 people matches while fighting either solo, duo or a four-man squad. The offline feature is about what weapons and strategies you would use to outlast a zombie apocalypse, Fortnite allows you to live out your survivalist fantasies.

“I’ve never played the offline version, but I have heard it’s just as good as the online” said Darnell.

Fornite has changed the gaming scene forever. Not only has it broken records, it’s also built a bigger fan base for online gaming. Pro athletes, hip hop artists and other celebrities are joining the bandwagon as well.

Darnell sees the significance this game has had.

“It brought people together and it changed gaming forever. Definitely a nominee for game of the year,” said Darnell.

The next obstacle for Epic, the developers of Fornite, is to keep the game interesting and not letting it die out. We all know, video games eventually get old. However, Fortnite offers a unique gameplay experience that no other developer has come close to matching. One can only imagine the milestones Epic and Fortnite can reach, it’s just a matter of time.