of Fortnite last season marked the beginning of a big change: the developer Epic Games removed the building, perhaps the most iconic feature of the game, from the main modes of Battle Royale. It was a risky move that had the potential to reduce interest in the game. Instead, it seems to have the opposite effect – especially for some large streamers.
Not everyone immediately joined what Epic now calls Zero Build mode. “At first I hated him and was absolutely furious,” Reynolds, a Facebook Gaming streamer, told The Fierce Diva in an interview. “Because I play the game so much, the way people would rate my skills is due to the way I build and edit, and things like that. But my movement and all these things, I’m not that good at it. ”
Reynolds was not the only one. “I thought I would hate him at first,” Twitch streamer Ali “SypherPK” Hassan told me. “I thought I might make a few videos about it and then go back to normal building mode.”
But since then, both have emerged. “Once I got used to the way I would navigate the map without the builds, I had a lot of respect and appreciation for that,” Reynolds said. “I had a great time playing this game,” Hassan said. It’s not just these two; I’ve seen a lot of streamers who haven’t played much Fortnitesuch as DrLupo, TimTheTatman, Nickmercs and Tfue, jumping back into the game.
Removing the building also makes the game more accessible, Hassan said. “Fortnite it was slowly becoming inaccessible to new players, “he said. “Anyone who was interested in playing semi-seriously was simply destroyed by people with years of experience in building and editing.” You just have to watch a little of Fortnite official racing matches to see how well high-level players can build, and in my experience, instant expert building can be devalued.
Both Reynolds and Hassan have noticed a great deal of interest in the Zero Build regime. Reynolds told me that at a time when he was playing of Fortnite Arena mode you did no losing a building, “people were so excited not to see any construction and to see streamers create content around me being hit that day.” Now that the building is back in an uncompetitive royal battle, Reynolds says it spends about three-quarters from the flow in build mode and then switches to Zero Build. “I really enjoy mixing it.”
Hassan’s team shared some statistics showing how the new regime led to more viewers, and he apparently saw a 30.3% increase in average viewers in the first week of this season compared to the first week of Chapter 2 Season 8. (His team did not shares statistics comparing last season, Chapter 3 Season 1, because it brought a big change that changed the island, which meant the numbers were more inflated than they normally would have been.) Twitch also told me that the first week of the new season was approximately approximately. 23 million watched hours – the highest Fortnite time to watch Twitch for more than a year.
Although Zero Build mode is popular, it’s unclear whether Epic plans to keep it in the game after this season. I asked both streamers if they thought Zero Build would stay. “I mean, I do it because I think I do,” Reynolds said. “As long as people continue [enjoy it], I do not see why not stay. And I hope he stays, personally. “
Hassan said that if Epic leaves the regime as it is and as a separate one, which is not updated, “I think people will eventually get bored of it and want more. I don’t think it can last more than one season in its current state. ” But he also tells me about the intriguing potential of a hybrid between build and no build modes. “I think if Fortnite is intelligent, they will be willing to experiment even more and potentially have some kind of limited stuff or ability based building where you just push a button and it builds a box or a bridge and you can still have those building mechanics, “he said.
I asked both streamers what he was doing Fortnite point out now that building is not a requirement.
“Fortnite has an amazing base compared to other traditional Battle Royale games on the market, ”Reynolds said in an email. He mentioned how easy it is to navigate the map and pick up weapons, which has been improved by the addition of mechanics such as drag and sprint. “I think Fortnite shows the industry that it doesn’t need to be built to be as exciting as it used to be. ” And when we called, he was talking about FortniteThe impressive rhythm of weekly updates, which sometimes add new mechanics and locations.
Hassan argues that the building is key to the initial success of Fortnite“But what people need to realize is this Fortnite He has come a long way since then. “He mentioned the many collaborations with franchises like Marvel and DC and the addition of Creative mode, which allows people to make their own experiences. He also mentioned regular updates:” Normal Fortnite the update on every Tuesday can be potentially comparable to a whole new season [for] another royal battle. “
In an email after the interview, Hassan said that viewership continues. “My chat is really enjoying Zero Build and our viewership surpasses even our last jumps,” he said. “Fortnite with Zero Build it may not be at its previous peak, but it certainly feels like we’re getting there. ”