The Xbox marketing chief, Aaron Greenberg explains why Fortnite is overall beneficial for gaming and the Xbox One platform. Allegedly, Fortnite has no impact on other games. But is that really so?
Who is speaking? It is speaking Microsoft’s Chief Marketing Officer for Games, Aaron Greenberg, in an interview with the English site MCVUK. Greenberg is mainly focused on Microsoft’s Xbox One platform.
The general situation: According to Greenberg, the entire “gaming” sector is currently performing very well. Gaming is growing in every area. More people are engaging with gaming than before. According to Greenberg, this is due to the “massive phenomenon Fortnite.”
Fortnite gets casuals to play more
This is how Fortnite strengthens gaming: The most impressive thing about Fortnite is that the success of the game does not come at the expense of other games:
“We are looking at the impact Fortnite has on us or our partners. And we see no significant impact. Fortnite seems to be additive. It has certainly made gaming as a whole larger by bringing more people into play. And the new players spent more time playing.
Hardcore players continue to play their games
Fortnite hardly takes away players: Greenberg further states that hardcore players who have been playing their favorite games did not stop to play Fortnite.
But players who played only occasionally are now playing more than before. Many of them are not “core gamers,” but just people who were looking for entertainment. They would have watched a TV series or listened to music, but now they play Fortnite. That’s the exciting part about the phenomenon.
Fortnite helps Xbox One: For Greenberg, it is clear that Fortnite is not only good for Epic but also for its platform, the Xbox. There has been strong year-over-year growth.
Xbox One was actually betting on another horse
This makes it a bit spicy: Microsoft is adapting to the new conditions here. Actually, Microsoft was betting on “PUBG” and secured it exclusively for their console: PUBG was supposed to be released only for Xbox One and not for PlayStation 4. At least for some time.
In 2017, that looked like a huge chess move, as PUBG was the biggest game in the world.
The rise of Fortnite starting January 2018 made this chess move significantly less valuable. With Fortnite, PlayStation players have long had an alternative. The lure of buying an Xbox One just to experience the battle royale phenomenon has likely diminished significantly.
Is Fortnite really harming no one? Greenberg’s statements refer to “Microsoft and its partners.” The situation looks a bit different when you widen the view.
At Steam, a decline in players is observable, which can also be attributed to the strength of Fortnite. There, developers said: “Fortnite is so big, it affects everything. When there is server maintenance, our player numbers go up.”
Little room beside Fortnite in the genre
In the “Battle Royale” genre, several games have also folded or at least lost significantly. For smaller games like
This is what’s behind it: The effect that Greenberg describes is certainly there, but not exclusively. Even if Fortnite brings more players to gaming in the long run, it is a tough competition in the short term that draws a lot of attention.
Fortnite has effects on other games – even if it surely makes the gaming market as a whole larger. How much space Fortnite leaves beside itself will be seen at the latestwhen Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is released. Because even in Black Ops 4 there will be a battle royale mode in 2018, Blackout.
At Xbox One, it seems that they have come to terms with Fortnite and Epic by now and see Fortnite as an opportunity to continue growing:
Fortnite consists of two games, the free battle royale and the still paid original game 'Save the World'. In battle royale mode, up to 100 players are dropped o...
