Fortnite’s reign continues with online streaming service Netflix addressing investors during its Q4 earning call, openly admitting that Epic Games’ famed battle royale has been successfully biting into the potential customer base of the platform.
Fortnite Takes a Bite Outside the Gaming Industry
Epic Games are chugging along nicely. From generating millions worth of revenue through their flagship battle royale game to working on their generous revenue-sharing online store, Fortnite seems to be all over the place.
Last year, The Motley Fool pondered what the free-to-play mode meant for Activision and its most ambitious product, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 (BO4). Though some feared Fortnite would prevent BO4 from clawing a share of the market, others were prematurely dubbing the game a Fortnite-killer.
None of this has come to pass and in the meanwhile, Fortnite is encroaching on the most unexpected businesses. During their Q4 earning call, Netflix released a statement to their investors, explaining that the challenges to keeping viewers busy in front of the screen were many, and not necessarily occasioned by anything outside the digital world.
The letter spoke of “a very broad array” of competitors that have managed to win themselves a solid following.
We compete with (and lose to) Fortnite more than HBO
The letter gave an honest account of the workings of the industry, explaining that there were thousands of companies, all “vying to entertain consumers. Our growth is based on how good our experience is, compared to all the other screen time experiences from which consumers choose,” the letter continued.
By the end of December 2018, Netflix posted a still impressive consumer base of 139 million people, which nevertheless paled in comparison with Fortnite’s flexing its own muscles at over 200 million registered users.
Netflix paid attention”consumer screen time” as the key metric during the earing call, stressing its importance to investors and pointing out to the various challenges that the company faced beyond its natural opponents, such as HBO and Amazon Prime.
The key here is to brush up on the experience. Fortnite , in the meantime, have been enjoying all the love of their fans. Despite scraps in the esports community, Epic Games have stood tall, unchallenged by any entertainment company on the market.
Fortnite continue to invest in the competitive aspect of the game, although their efforts seem to be focused on everyone having a good time. With Fortnite bringing in $3 billion in revenue in 2018, Epic Games can afford themselves to be generous when it comes to competitive video gaming.
Fortnite are challenging game creators beyond their area of influence transforming Epic Games into a curious, unpredictable, and yet aimable behemoth.