Epic Games’ famed Battle Royale title Fortnite is being recognized as the “first credible metaverse” as its gameplay becomes diverse, making it a “hybrid” platform.
Fortnite has been observed to be expanding its gameplay, diving into other ways of in-game interaction aside from the Battle Royale mechanics.
The past few months, Epic Games made a wild fantasy happen in the virtual reality when it held an in-game Travis Scott concert. This followed other socializing events to happen within the Fortnite universe, giving birth to Party Royale.
Recently, the devs presented a movie trailer release within its metaverse, marking another milestone.
Grab a front row seat in Party Royale for a world premiere!
Catch the latest trailer for Christopher Nolan’s @TENETFilm at the top of every hour on the big screen starting at 8 PM ET.
ʇnO sunᴚ ǝɯı⊥ ǝɹoɟǝq ʇı ǝǝS pic.twitter.com/ZiNfxaRQ7U
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 21, 2020
All these massive changes and obvious expansion, making the game diverse, is getting noticed by other big names in the gaming and tech industry.
Lego Ventures recognized Fortnite‘s “hybrid” direction
In an interview with GamesIndustry.biz during the media outlet’s Investment Summit Online last week, Lego Ventures’ head of value creation and marketing, Robert Lowe, expressed recognition to the metaverse that Fortnite created and the gaming investment’s firm interest in supporting this trend.
Accordingly, Lowe revealed that the said “metaverse concept” is the talk of the town these days in the gaming industry. The media outlet indicates that Lowe’s take might be in reference to Fornite’s huge Travis Scott event success.
We still have goosebumps.
A huge thank you to everyone who came out to Travis Scott's Astronomical! pic.twitter.com/2VC2UGb4si
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) April 26, 2020
Lowe then expressed that this “hybrid” platform that Fortnite ignited will surely be followed by other gaming companies and that Lego Ventures wants to be part of this history in the making.
“We see Fortnite taking a pretty good stab at making the first credible metaverse, where people can play and watch and share and socialize together. There will be others, and this idea of a hybrid social platform, gaming platform, creative platform, is something that we’re extremely interested in being involved with through investment, through partnership.”
Apparently, Lego Ventures is looking into other possible game investments outside of its Lego franchise. “We feel that, potentially, working with and investing in companies outside of Lego could be the best way of finding future digital systems in play,” he further explained, citing that the “building inside-out” approach has not favored a success for them in the past.
Fortnite‘s expansion outside BR gameplay
Fortnite was originally released in 2017, following the Battle Royale trend that PUBG started. Since then, other BR-focused games have emerged. Amazon’s Crucible is, in fact, dubbed as a competent “Fortnite rival.”
The Epic Games’ famed title has been surrounded by issues in the past, as pro players and other noted streamers publicly complained about unattended in-game issues.
The most noted game change that the devs have done is introducing Party Royale which is being well-received by its players so far. DJs have been invited and themes have been created lately, as the virtual parties continue within its metaverse.
Fortnite now has over 350 million registered players! In April, players spent over 3.2 billion hours in game. 🙌🥳
Let’s keep the party going with our Party Royale Premiere LIVE on May 8 at 9PM ET featuring @DillonFrancis @steveaoki @deadmau5: https://t.co/H18c3UgBL1 pic.twitter.com/Cgt3r7LXQO
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 6, 2020
Will we see more of this on Fortnite moving forward?
With Season 3 coming real soon, avid players will likely see more in-depth diverse gameplay, with Epic Games exploring the “hybrid” platform further.
Featured image courtesy of Fortnite/Twitter