Understanding Fortnite’s Success, Part 1: The Burning Rope Gameplay, Cortisol and Human Survival
It is hard to overstate Fortnite’s success.
There are over 250 million Fortnite players worldwide. Its creator Epic Games was valued at $15 billion in December 2018. The company is today a giant of game development, publishing, distribution and development technology, and its lead property is a bona fide global cultural phenomenon.
Epic’s creation is more than a isolated success; it reflects an industry now worth over $135 billion. To understand gaming today you need to understand what makes Fortnite a hit. At Robonetica, gaming is central to our mission. Young gamers will be future engineers and Robonetica Explorers. We’ve been watching Fortnight since its arrival on the gaming landscape and we know what makes it powerful.
Fortnite is free to play. That is the hook. However, what keeps users engaged and coming back for “Just One More Game!” It’s not “gaming disorder” or gamer addiction as the WHO have foolishly claimed. Fortnite is compelling because it plays on the human condition. It triggers basic human responses based on our biological instincts.
Sapien global dominance is powered in part by our adrenal glands. When needed, they pump out the likes of cortisol and adrenaline, which help us respond to stressful situations, including those that are matter of survival. We feel anxiety about the coming of death to help us stay alive. The notion that our time is running out is a powerful tool for our species’ success. A release of cortisol or adrenaline can help us flee or fight off danger.
For most of us, though, modern life rarely asks us to face life-ending situations. Long gone are the days of constant threat from wild animals and our environment. And yet we can still produce cortisol and adrenaline. That’s where Fortnite comes in.
Fortnite places its players on an island surrounded by a deadly storm. That storm moves in on the island from all sides, gradually reducing the gameplay area, forcing surviving players into an area so small they cannot simply hide from one another.
Death is always coming. Time is constantly running out. The rope is burning. The plank is shortening. Call it what you like, but us humans love this sensation.
Epic’s game leans onto our natural anxiety about survival. It gives the adrenal cortex reason to do its job. There is little doubt video games can stimulate our on-board cortisol and adrenaline factory.
As such, the ‘reducing playing field’ set-up of Fortnite — combined with its intense competitive gameplay — is significantly compelling. It stirs our instinct to survive, and stimulates a gland that makes us feel stressed, excited, challenged and invigorated.
Then — with a match over — players can dive into another, sense the pressure of the closing storm all over again, take a cortisol hit, and feel what it is to be alive.
That is just a part of what makes Fortnite a hit. In an effort to help you comprehend Epic’s critically acclaimed, financially snowballing triumph, this article is part of a five-part series looking at that success. Keep checking back to better your understanding of Epic’s multi-billion dollar hit.
