Women are key players in Fortnite’s popularity
Almost half of users are female, according to video-game maker
In an industry known for high levels of testosterone, Fortnite has become the hottest game going partly because of its appeal to an unlikely cohort: women.
Like Survivor meets The Most Dangerous Game, Fortnite pits 100 stranded players against one another in a violent battle to the death. Many of its 45 million players participate on mobile devices, and among them, almost half are women, according to research firm Apptopia Inc. For rival games such as the latest versions of Call of Duty and Grand Theft Auto, it’s one in three or fewer.
Its popularity among women is part of the broader Fortnite phenomenon. It is social, free and popular on mobile — the fastest growing segment of gaming.
In April, the game made by Epic Games Inc. generated an estimated $296 million (U.S.) in revenue, according to industry analyst SuperData Research — an eye-popping number in any medium, let alone for a game that is free to play. (It makes money by charging players for in-game enhancements such as character features, tools and other accessories.)
At that rate, the game is on target to sail past the $1.5 billion in annual revenue generated by Call of Duty, the industry’s topselling game.
Its popularity among women “definitely helps,” said Matthew Kanterman, an analyst at Bloomberg Intelligence. “Gaming has always struggled with diversity and inclusiveness, so targeting beyond that teen and young male audience is always going to grow the pie.”
Meanwhile, the shares of other game makers have wobbled. Take-Two Interactive Software Inc. is down 12 per cent from its January high; Activision Blizzard Inc. has also failed to fully recover from declines earlier this spring.
“It’s hard to know exactly the impact,” said TakeTwo chief executive officer Strauss Zelnick.
“It’s a big hit, and whenever you have 45 million players, you’re bringing in people who are new to video games.”
Epic is owned by its founder, Tim Sweeney, its employees and by Chinese internet giant Tencent Holdings Ltd. It doesn’t make its financial performance public, and Epic Games spokesperson Nick Chester declined to comment for this story.
Epic is also being sued by PUBG Corp., an affiliate of South Korean studio Bluehole Inc., for copyright infringement.
PUBG claims Fortnite copies many characteristics of its own PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which was introduced last year and which features 100 players racing to kill each other until there’s a sole survivor.
Fortnite has a similar concept of 100 people competing with each other, but differs by letting players build fortifications similar to Minecraft and using more cartoon-like graphics aimed at younger players.
“This is a measure to protect our copyrights,” PUBG said, declining to provide further details.
Epic Games didn’t immediately respond to requests for comment.
Fortnite has made an effort to appeal to women in a very obvious way: It’s one of very few shooter games to feature female characters in its ads — a controversial move in the industry. Earlier this week, some gamers lashed out at Electronic Arts Inc. for featuring female characters in its Second World Warthemed Battlefield V, a reminder that video gaming can still be a hostile environment for women.
Fortnite is also subtly different from existing shooter games, in ways that may specifically appeal to women more than other titles do. It’s relatively easy for first-time players, and it looks more cartoonish and less gory than its rivals. Women and men both play mobile games, according to research firm Newzoo, but women’s preference is stronger, relative to PCs and console games. Fortnite also has a social quality, with many players using headsets to chat with their friends while they play. Those social connections are important, Newzoo’s data suggests: Women are more likely to discover games through family and friends, whereas men are more likely to learn about new games through reviews and websites.
Fortnite also takes a more egalitarian approach to the gender of players’ avatars. About 39 of the 111 Fortnite characters listed on the website Orcz.com are discernibly female. Call of Duty’s latest mobile title, by comparison, offers two female characters among the 13 that are recognizably human.
Unlike most games, Fortnite players don’t get to choose their avatars when they start, which means some male players are assigned a female character and vice versa. If players want to change their avatar, they have to pay.
“I would love to see an option to change the gender,” a player identified as Kurt543 wrote in an online forum, adding that he plays as a character with a fuzzy pink bear head on top of a pinkclad female body. “Although it is rather feminine, I would still like to be able to play as a male pink bear.”