HAS FORTNITE ALREADY WON THE METAVERSE?

Eurgh! Fortnite. Love it or hate it. You can’t ignore it. A lot of clients want their Travis Scott concert moment. But what have they got to do with the ‘Metaverse’? Well, my personal view is that the Metaverse we talk about will be led by the likes of the people behind Fortnite, Roblox and Minecraft and not Meta or Sandbox.

One of the differences I see between gaming companies and tech companies is that a game is designed to make you feel good. Not just designed to make you do something. No one plays a boring video game.

To the uninitiated, Fortnite is a shoot people, win, high scores, brag, repeat game. However, in reality, it’s actually way more about expressing yourself, socialising, building and exploring to your heart’s content.

It’s a smelting pot of popular culture where huge variety of fandoms are catered for whether it’s NFL, Star Wars, Rap Music or Anime to name a few. Every month 80,000,000 of them come together to hang out in this virtual world.

Darth Vader can have a dance-off with Arianna Grande. Thanos and a Demogorgon can cruise around in a car listening to rock music. Goku can go fishing with John Wick.

They’re not trying to ‘revolutionize’ Dating, Excercise or Meetings. The ultimate objective is FUN and people (especially seen during the pandemic) are more and more using these games like Fortnite and Animal Crossing for educational purposes and social events.

The simulation fidelity and functionality of their technology has reached a point where it is now accessible outside the gaming sphere and we’re seeing doctors using game engines to conduct remote operations. The U.S and British Armies use the Unreal gaming engine for active combat training. It’s only a matter of time before this expertise is applied to more areas and this will definitely include the Metaverse.