Epic v. Apple is breaking up Fortnite players. But they have more options now.
When Jackson Pittman and his friends want to hang out after school or on weekends, that often means getting together on Fortnite, the hugely popular game created by Cary-based Epic Games.
For the past three years, that video game has become an important social vehicle for teenagers across the world, allowing them to gather virtually to talk and compete against each other.
The game has been a huge hit since it came out in 2017, when Epic made the battle-royale version of the game free for everyone. Epic only makes money from in-game purchases on things like dance moves and costumes, which allow players to personalize their games.
But it was a revolutionary change to the way games are played that made Fortnite a social fixture in schools across the country.
Fornite was the first game that could operate across platforms — on mobile phones, computers and major gaming consoles — opening up the segmented video game world. Traditionally, for example, someone using an Xbox could not play against someone using a PlayStation. But on Fortnite, you can join in if you are using an Xbox, a personal computer, an iPhone or any other device.
“It was a big deal” when that happened in 2018, Pittman said in a phone interview with The News & Observer. “One of my friends, who lives across from me, plays on Xbox and one plays on computer,” said Pittman, who plays on a PlayStation. “Until a couple of seasons in, I was never able to play with them.”
Pittman, who is a 15-year-old at Garner High School, said he now plays Fortnite around five days a week, often only when his friends are on so they can play private games on creative mode, which lets you design your own maps and rules.
Disrupting the metaverse
By transcending those barriers, the game became more than just a video game. It was a virtual hangout space. Players gather there to watch live concerts and movie showings on the Fortnite platform. Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney refers to these shared experiences as the first evolution of the Fornite metaverse, a virtual ecosystem where people can gather in real time.
Cross-platform play is critical to Fortnite. Epic analyzed the game from March to June 2020 and found that 60% of users played with someone using another gaming platform than their own, according to Gamesindustry.biz. And those who used cross-platform played the game 570% more on average than those who didn’t.
But in its legal quest to prove Apple is an abusive monopoly, that ecosystem has been disrupted. Apple kicked Fortnite off the App Store last month, after Epic Games attempted to get around Apple’s mandatory fee on in-app purchases. Epic had anticipated that move and immediately filed a lawsuit, which could have large ramifications in the tech industry.
It also effectively meant that if you are one of the more than 100 million people who play Fortnite on an iPhone, iPad or Mac, you are no longer able to update the game. Epic also shut down Fortnite: Save the World on Mac, a version of the game where players fight zombies, because Apple is blocking updates. Mac users can still play the battle-royale version of Fortnite but they can’t can’t get the latest update.
For Pittman, the lawsuit means that his friends who only have iPhones can no longer join his Fortnite group.
“It is frustrating that I can’t play with three of my friends because it was really fun,” Pittman said. It is especially unfair, he added, for those who can’t afford expensive gaming consoles.
Sweeney is hoping that frustrated fans like Pittman will be able to pump up the pressure on Apple. His company has launched a #FreeFortnite campaign that paints Apple as a monopolist that inhibits freedom, and in legal filings, it has pointed to user complaints against Apple as proof that its reputation is being irreparably harmed.
Ahead of a Sept. 28 hearing, Epic Games is asking the court — for the second time — to place an injunction against Apple’s ability to keep Fortnite off the App Store. If granted, the movement would keep the game intact while the lawsuit proceeds.
In a legal filing, Sweeney said Fortnite averaged 2.5 million iOS players daily, roughly 10% of the game’s total. He also said daily active iOS users had declined by more than 60% since it was taken off the App Store.
But Pittman and his friends said they haven’t taken much interest in the fight between Apple and Epic Games. It’s only a tiny fraction of gamers in his experience who only have access to the game on the iPhone.
Most prefer to play it on the console or computer, where the graphics are better and the controls easier to maneuver. The iPhone usually serves as a backup for when someone isn’t at home. Pittman used to play Fortnite on the phone occasionally — like on the bus to school — but he can’t remember the last time he did.
“It is a lot easier on the PS4,” he said of the difference between the PlayStation 4 and iPhone.
While he and his friends are still Fortnite junkies, they are playing it less than they used to — and they were playing less even before the fight with Apple. Other games, like Call of Duty, have adopted the cross-platform model, so there are just more options for them as a group than previously.
And Fortnite has made changes that some players haven’t liked, like the introduction of bots, Pittman said.
“I think it is still fun, just not as much as it used to be,” he said.
Fortnite past its peak
Zach Leischner, a 22-year-old Fortnite player from Raleigh, agrees with that.
While Fortnite is still incredibly popular, it has lost ground to other games that have adopted some of the advances Fortnite created, he said.
“I have noticed more people aren’t playing it as often,” Leischner said.
“That’s just the natural cycle of games” that have been around for a while, he added, “but there’s also the fact that other games changed what they were doing.”
Leischner, who followed Epic v. Apple at the outset but lost interest, said he thought Epic’s timing with the lawsuit was a little strange. At its peak of popularity, he noted, there weren’t many other cross-platform options to switch to. Now it’s not as big of a deal to pick a different game to play.
Plus, losing the ability to play on your iPhone isn’t as big of a deal as other platforms, he added.
“If it was taken off the Xbox or PlayStation store, people would still be keeping up with (the lawsuit),” Lieschner said. “Some people will definitely play it on their phone first. But if you play it on (multiple platforms), you are likely to stop playing on your phone first.”
Apple, which is countersuing Epic and accusing it of stealing in-app purchasing fees, said in its lawsuit that it believes Epic is trying to revive interest in the video game by attacking Apple.
It claimed that interest in the game fell by nearly 70% between October 2019 and July 2020. Epic replied that Apple was cherry picking Google Trends data, and the comparison wasn’t fair.
But that isn’t the only data point that shows that Fornite, at one point the most popular game in the world, has lost a bit of its luster. Revenue from Fortnite in January hit its lowest level since November 2017, according to a new report from Nielsen’s SuperData. At its peak, Fortnite brought in $372.2 million in December 2018, but those numbers started dropping below $100 million in 2019, SuperData estimated.
Epic told The News & Observer that SuperData’s reports were inaccurate. SuperData has stood by its numbers.
The pandemic seemed to be good for Fortnite — more people at home with time on their hands. SuperData reported that Fortnite had seen a resurgence in usage. Revenue on Fortnite grew 76% on computers and consoles from July to August with the release of the new season, according to SuperData. But revenue fell 62% on mobile phones after it was removed from the App Store and Google Play store.
Chase Carson, a friend of Pittman’s, said he used to play Fortnite “all day every day.”
But, in recent months, he plays it fewer hours than he used to, and instead is switching between other games, like Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Minecraft.
While he personally enjoys the ever-changing nature of Fortnite, he knows people who are playing it less because of that.
“Some of my friends want it to go back to how it was in the original season, where it was more simple,” he said. “But, to me, new stuff changes up the game and gives you new strategies and ways to play.”
Regardless of the fight with Apple, Fortnite has been past its peak of popularity for a while, Carson said.
“I think it can go (strong) for another year or two, but I don’t see it going too far” after that, he said. “It is just one game and they will get bored.”
A hearing on whether the game will remain barred from the App Store throughout the trial is set for Sept. 28.
This story was produced with financial support from a coalition of partners led by Innovate Raleigh as part of an independent journalism fellowship program. The N&O maintains full editorial control of the work. Learn more; go to bit.ly/newsinnovate
This story was originally published September 25, 2020 at 6:00 AM with the headline "Epic v. Apple is breaking up Fortnite players. But they have more options now.."
