Tag: fortnite

Epic Games’ new Marketplace will greatly change the PC market

After writing about Valve offering more money for successful games yesterday, Epic Games (Creators of Fortnite) is planning to launch their online store that will give 88% of revenue from game sales to developers. In comparison, Sony, Microsoft, and Valve offer 30% of revenue to developers.

His Twitter image is a JPEG , LOL

Thanks to the massive success of Fortnite, Epic has the money to offer these to developers according to founder and CEO Tim Sweeney. According to Forbes magazine in July 2018, Fortnite has made over $1 billion in revenue.

 

Another amazing deal Epic is offering: Any games that uses Unreal Engine 4 will not have to pay royalty fees to Epic if it’s sold on their game marketplace. Unreal Engine is used many many triple A games, including Kingdom Hearts 3, Fortnite, Injustice 2, mobile games, and more. It’s considered the definitive game engine for many users. This could give potential new studios or indie developers a chance to save money for game releases if they are sold on Epic’s marketplace. Any game is allowed on Epic’s marketplace, it doesn’t have to use the Unreal Engine.

In addition, Epic is also planning to launch their “Support-A-Creator” program. It will help support content creators on YouTube or streamers connect with developers. Developers can share a percentage of their revenue with video producers who make content about their games. Epic will cover the first 5 percent.

EpicGamesStore_InfoGraphic.jpg
Revenue Split

When will it launch?

The Epic Games store will launch on PC and Mac in 2018 so it’s coming soon. It will launch on Android in 2019 and they are planning to launch for iOS in 2019. There are no plans for the console platforms. The store is planning to launch with a small selection of handpicked games. Developers are free to use their own digital right management.

This marketplace will dramatically change the PC gaming marketplace. The opportunity for publishers and developers is insane. I’m unsure on how it may shake the other marketplace but game developers will begin to look to Epic to sell their titles. It’s rare to see a company using their wealth to support companies, especially in the gaming industry which is highly competitive. I look forward to 2019 and how everything may change.

Sources

Epic Official Statement

Gameinformer

Forbes

PlayStation finally brings CrossPlay

After months of criticism from Gaming Companies and players, PlayStation and Sony have finally started to bring crossplay to the PlayStation 4. The game is Fortnite of course. Starting today, PlayStation will be hosting a beta for their crossplay services. PS4 players will be able to play with Android, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Microsoft Windows, and Mac operating systems. This may lead to potential other crossplay games according to Sony Interactive Entertainment.

There was a huge doubt if Sony would double down on blocking crossplay. A former Sony developer stated that Sony wouldn’t bring crossplay because they wanted “more money.” On August 31st, Sony CEO Kenichiro Yoshida stated that Fortnite was

“…our way of thinking is always that PlayStation is the best place to play. Fortnite, I believe, partnered with PlayStation 4 is the best experience for users, that’s our belief. But actually, we already opened some games as cross-platform with PC and some others, so we decide based on what is the best user experience. That is our way of thinking for cross-platform.”

Sources:

PlayStation Blog

The Independent – Yoshida’s Response

Olympics Bans Video Games involving “Killing”

People are trying to bring esports and professional gaming to a worldwide audience as it’s becoming more popular. People and or teams are competing all around the world and are representing their sponsors similar to physical sports teams. Some teams represent their countries similar to the Olympics such as the Asian Games. Earlier this year, gaming companies such as Riot, Blizzard, Epic, and the ESL, met with the Olympic Forums to discuss potentially having esports as an Olympic competition. The hopes would be the “government to help recognize esports as its own discipline” according to the CEO of Riot Games, Nicolo Laurent. Unfortunately, the Olympics will not allow any video games to be an Olympic event that has “killing” according to International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach.

Why did the Olympics deny video games from the Olympics?

While Esports may be in the Olympics in the future, Bach strongly stated “We cannot have in the Olympic program a game which is promoting violence or discrimination…They, from our point of view, are contradictory to the Olympic values and cannot therefore be accepted.” While people rebutted by stating some Olympic games involved dangerous weapons such as fencing, Bach said: “sport is the civilized expression about this.” Any games involved with “killing” for points/score will likely be denied by the Olympics in the near future. This would prevent popular esports titles from being an Olympic game such as Fortnite, Overwatch, League of Legends, and PUBG. 

What are the pros for having esports in the Olympics?

If esports was legitimized by the Olympics, it would benefit the players. Players would able to receive their Visas more easily to travel internationally for tournaments. Many players and team owners must pay for the visas. This can lead to potential delays that may prevent the players from competing. It would also give teams and players more sponsors for financial support. It can also lead to more television broadcasting opportunities for video games. Below are the hours viewed on Twitch and YouTube. If channels begin streaming video games, it could lead to people actually watch tv.

How do you feel about video games not allowed in the Olympics?

Sources:

Eurogamer

Gameindustry.Biz

AP News

Newzoo

 

Fortnite will launch directly to Android Users

Fortnite is finally releasing for Android but it won’t be on Google Play. To download it, you’ll have to do it directly from Epic‘s website. It will be downloaded as a typical APK file. Don’t download from any other website. There are a lot of scams or fake APK files for Fortnite out on the smartphones. Most Android users aren’t aware that Fortnite is not released for Android.

Why isn’t it on Google Play?

Google takes a 30% tax from each download. 70% covers everything including maintenance, development, operations. With direct downloads, Epic makes and saves more money with direct downloads. Epic can make more money and they are popular enough to have a separate download.

Which phones are supported?

You’re gonna need a strong phone to run Fortnite. According to Eurogamer, the Samsung Galaxy S7 is the base level to run Fortnite.

Sources:

Polygon

Eurogamer