On March 15, 2018, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins streamed some rounds of Fortnite on Twitch alongside rap star Drake and others. In retrospect, it was probably the peak of the Fortnite craze and a moment that changed a lot: gaming came into the mainstream.
This was the action: On March 15, Tyler “Ninja” Blevins played a few hours of Fortnite and broadcasted it on Steam, as he often did.
However, present that night were:
- music star Drake
- hip-hop artist Travis Scott
- controversial businessman Kim Schmitz, known as Kimdotcom
- and Juju Smith-Schuster, a football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers
The success of the stream: Just the announcement was a big deal and spread quickly via the social media channels of those involved.
The actual stream peaked at 635,000 viewers. That was the record for Twitch at the time.
The Korean site Inven calls it a moment that changed the gaming industry forever.
Why this was important: This moment brought gaming into the mainstream and legitimized it as “cool” in youth culture, if there were any doubts about that.
By having Drake, one of the biggest music stars in the world, play Fortnite with the biggest gaming star, new players were introduced to the world of gaming.
In the following months, analysts found that Fortnite made gaming as a whole bigger.
This attracted people to gaming who previously preferred listening to music, watching Netflix, or spending their leisure time differently.
This also led the entertainment industry to see great potential in Fortnite.
How it continued: The Fortnite hype remained strong throughout 2018 with ups and downs. In December 2018, Fortnite set a financial record.
Again and again, there was a convergence of the mainstream with Fortnite:
- Thus, Fortnite was discussed on US breakfast television
- Ninja made it onto the cover of ESPN as an eSports athlete
- the US talk show host Ellen DeGeneres introduced Fortnite to her audience
- Jimmy Kimmel urged parents to take Fortnite away from their kids
- Ninja threw a big New Year’s Eve party in Times Square – only the dancing part might have been better left out
Does everyone think this is good? Not everyone is on board. In discussions, you often feel there are people who strongly identify as “gamers” and want to set themselves apart from “non-gamers.”
They view Fortnite and the hype it generated quite critically.
But no matter how one sees it: the moment a year ago has probably changed a lot.
