Why Every Business Should Look To Fortnite as an Example: A Breakdown of Fortnite’s Success
Fortnite has become a gaming craze over the past year. The game has attracted nearly 74 million players with a great retention rate.
What led to the rise of Fortnite?
For starters, Fortnite knew their target market very well. Prior to launch, the similar game, PUBG was fantastic proving grounds. This game proved that there was a market for another game in the space.
Fortnite took action and went for it.
They created an adventure/action/competitive game. In the game, you are a person with a Fortnite skin that alters as you tier up. You are dropped out of a bus into an island that remains the same each game with 100 other people. From there, it is a Hunger Games type of battle. The last man standing wins a Victory Royale!
That is an extremely basic overview of what the game completely entails, but you understand what the concept is.
So, what drove Fortnite’s success?
If you ask me, I think it breaks into a few categories:
- Gamification Principles
- Rise of E-Sports
- Influencers
- Scalable Model
Gamification Principles
Gamification refers to the application of typical elements of game playing. Essentially, it is a newer technique used in online marketing to increase engagement with a product or service by turning into a game.
Fortnite built a game and instantly attracted many of the younger crowd. However, they did a fantastic job of implementing gamification principles into the game.
Consider this, what would you consider to be a perfect game?
If you break it down, this chart does a fairly good job of depicting:
Essentially, every good game has a competitive aspect. However, every good game has an opportunity for people to achieve or hit certain bonuses.
Do you see where I am going with this? Probably not yet!
That chart explains the different elements of game mechanics that make a fantastic game. However, you also need to identify the people playing the game. What type of personality do they have for gameplay?
Well, I have the answer for you.
You can break players into four main categories or personalities:
- The Achiever
- The Explorer
- The Killer
- The Socializer
Fortnite managed to create a game that hit all of these in great detail. In fact, let explain what each one is to better give you an understanding of what Fortnite did.
The Achiever is someone who is all about points and status. They like to have a base and show everyone around them how far they have got into the game. This is the person that likes to get on the leaderboard and rank high.
How does Fortnite appeal to The Achiever’s?
They created a tiering system that allows players to get points and keep ranking up in every season. Along with that, there is a winner at the end of every match, so The Achievers are looking to get what Fortnite calls a “Victory Royale.”
The Explorer is someone is interested in adventure and discovering new things. Typically, The Explorer will roam the map and tread into new territories. Some games release “Easter Egg’s” and this is an Explorer’s favorite part. Typically an Explorer is okay with doing mediocre as long as they get to enter new parts of a map or unlock new features.
How does Fortnite appeal to The Explorer’s?
They created an absolutely fantastic system for Explorers. To begin, they have a map that is the exact same for every game, but each house/location has different chests/crates with unique loot each time. This causes a spark in The Explorers. On top of that, Fortnite created an impressive update system. Usually a couple times a month Fortnite will update the game to include some new features, different holiday themes or a new season. All combined, this has an Explorers inner spirit going wild.
The Killer although very extreme sounding is very similar to The Achiever. The Killer is someone who is also interested in racking up points and winning. However, the biggest difference here is that The Killer enjoys other people losing. The Killer is extremely competitive and will do what’s needed to win.
How does Fortnite appeal to The Killer’s?
You can argue that Fortnite was built for The Killer’s. They created an ecosystem where points, tiers and winning are at the backbone of the game. Similarly to The Achievers, Fortnite created a game where Victory Royale’s are supreme.
The Socializer is someone who enjoys a collaborative approach to gaming. Most people tend to be Socializers. They enjoy working with a team or having the ability to communicate with another party through the game.
How does Fortnite appeal to The Socializer’s?
Fortnite created a game with multiple modes. They have Solo’s where you play alone against the 100 other people in the lobby. However, to appeal to the Socializer they created a multi-cross-platform game that enables you to play Duo’s or Squad’s with your friends. So, instead of you versus 100, it can be you and 2–4 of your friends versus other duo or squad teams in the lobby.
What does this have to do with business?
Fornite applied gamification principles to draw their audience in. Not only did they hit one of the main gaming personalities, but they achieved hitting all of them.
So, in your business, what can you do to utilize gamification principles and bring out the competitive and gaming side of your audience?
Rise of E-Sports
Fortnite was released at a pinnacle time of gaming.
The E-Sports market just reached over $900 million dollars in 2018, making it a new record for the market.
What is E-Sports? It is organized professional gaming among elite professional players.
Fortnite created a perfect game to fit the mold for E-Sports. It is collaborative and competitive. By curating such a solid base, Fortnite was able to sneak into the E-Sports market fairly quickly.
They used the boost of influencers, as we will discuss next.
Influencers
We currently live in a day and age where influencers have become part of our everyday lives.
There is not a day that goes by on the internet that we are not influenced in some way by some influencer. Typically, they are promoting brands through the influence they possess in their niche.
Fortnite capitalized brilliantly on this.
One of the most well known gamers in the world is called, Ninja. This gentleman is an E-Sports gamer that livestreams on Twitch playing…can you guess it?
Fortnite.
Ninja has over 5 million followers watching his Twitch livestreams that are purely Fortnite. He is an extremely gifted player that draws a crowd. More importantly, Forntite piggy-backed off of his stellar success.
They began using Ninja as a prime “influencer” of the game. He would have access to some early-releases and would just do his thing and play the game.
How to apply this principle in your business?
Like Fortnite, if you have a brand that could utilize influencers, do it.
I would argue that most brands are set up to utilize influencers. They key is to nail down your target market. Learn their lifestyles, demographics and where they flock to. Then, start conducting research about what influencers are where your customers are.
Begin reaching out to potential influencers with brand deals.
Develop a structure to speak with influencers and design a brand development kit that influencers could easily integrate with what you are trying to accomplish.
Your goal is to have the influencer promote your brand. Maybe that means wearing your apparel. Maybe that means playing your game. Maybe that means collaborating with you on a project.
I promise you, influencers are taking over the market and making more brands successful through proper utilization.
Scalable Model
Lastly, Fortnite created an extremely scalable model.
For starters, Fortnite decided to utilize the free model. So, their game is free to play for anyone with a console or PC. However, they decided to go with an extremely scalable “season pass” model.
Instead of having people purchase the game, they have people purchase a “Season Pass” which opens you up to tiering up, collecting rewards and getting custom skins and such.
They have 4 seasons per year that last 3 months a piece. The Fortnite season passes cost $9.99 a piece and give you access to one individual season. For added value, each new season has a unique theme that the Fortnite team creates.
They build hype around the season and execute.
Why is this model scalable?
There is no limit on how many seasons Fortnite can create and there is no major over-haul needed for each season. They also created a fairly great revenue stream that will come in each quarter of the year.
In fact, the model is so scalable that the game is reaching valuations close to $8 billion.
That said, if you could find a scalable model for your business, do it. In today’s day and age, that typically means more automation. Create a model that can automate itself with less involvement from you and can generate regular income.
Ultimately, I think every business can take some excellent lessons from Fortnite. Although a younger generation craze, Fortnite managed to create an empire.
Did Fortnite stumble along the way? Absolutely. Every business will falter, but it is all about how you recover and push on.
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