Epic Games’ Fortnite continues to enjoy massive popularity, but many streamers who owe their success to the game are now setting it aside. Streamers such as SypherPK, Nickmercs, Symfuhny, and even Ninja have increasingly shifted their focus to Warzone and other titles, relegating Fortnite to a secondary position on their rosters. What’s causing this transition?
Though many factors may be involved, the migration away from Fortnite seems to come largely from the game’s staleness and lost momentum.
Entertainers Need Relevance
Entertainers, particularly streamers, thrive on relevance. The more hype there is for a game they play, the more likely they are to gain popularity. Greater popularity typically translates into greater success, so streamers are incentivized to play games that their viewers are interested in.
When developers fail to deliver regular updates to a game, the game becomes stale, and thus loses relevance. This appears to be the case with Fortnite currently, as Ninja explained when he expressed concern over Fortnite’s lack of new content back in January.
“We’re content creators and almost everyone here is competitive, so we have a lot of reasons to play this game, even when the season hype dies down,” Ninja said, referencing himself and his teammates, “but a lot of casuals don’t.”
At the time, Fortnite was in one of the longest seasons it ever had. Ninja implies that while the game satisfies his competitive drive, a lack of exciting updates makes the game less relevant to casual players. Many viewers are casual players, so disinterest in a game can lead to disinterest in Fortnite-related broadcasts – even from the likes of Ninja.
Other streamers are losing interest in Fortnite for the same reasons. SypherPK said in a tweet that he would return his focus to Fortnite only after cars get added to the game, which Nickmercs seemed to support.
Otherwise, streamers may be losing interest in Fortnite because they’re experiencing fatigue. Playing the same game for hours daily over the course of months or years can tire out anyone, so it could be that these streamers simply need a change of pace.
Finding Excitement In Familiarity
Despite streamers’ waning interest in Fortnite, several are turning to similar games.
Warzone, for example, offers the same competitive action and similar gameplay to Fortnite, but additions such as the Gulag and the ability to buy back teammates set it apart in a refreshing way. Former Fortnite-only streamers may be turning to games like Warzone because the gameplay is familiar, yet it introduces new concepts and mechanics to keep them engaged.
It’s likely those same streamers will return to Fortnite after big updates are released, but until then, they need something new to hold their interest.
