USA TODAY International Edition
‘Fortnite’ app also a summer job
Teen turns hobby into a revenue stream
ST. CLOUD, Minn. – Robbie Jandik’s parents assumed he was just playing video games during his summer break after graduating from high school last spring.
They were partially right.
The 18-year-old is an avid “Fortnite” player, along with most every other teenager this summer. Just ask anyone born around the turn of the century – they likely play the game, have friends who do, or at least have seen or heard of it.
If you don’t happen to share your home with a youth or a gamer, here’s the scoop: “Fortnite: Battle Royale” has attracted more than 125 million players since it launched one year ago and generated millions of dollars in revenue.
The free-for-all survival game pits 100 players against each other in a battle to be the last person standing.
Players are dropped on an island, where they scavenge for weapons and resources to help them fight their way to the top and ultimately declare victory.
The first decision you have to make in the game is where to land. Picking the right spot determines how much loot is immediately available to your player and is often a highly debated choice among players who team up and play on squads.
“We couldn’t decide where to land, and that’s arguably the most important part of the game,” Jandik said. He was playing the game with a friend one night, and after going back and forth about choosing a drop point, he decided to make an app that would decide for them.
Jandik developed a random site selector called Location Picker for “Fortnite” and released it on iOS in early June. He made his first app when he was 12 after watching how-to videos on YouTube and reading online tutorials.
Since its launch, he has added tips and tricks for players and guides to finding resources at any location the app selects.
“Right off the bat, it was pulling in about 900 downloads a day,” Jandik said.
In total, roughly 50,000 people have downloaded the app since its release. As of last week, Jandik said his app was No.159 in the top 200 reference apps in Apple’s App Store.
He started monetizing the app a few weeks after launch with advertising. Now what once was thought of as a lazy pastime, playing video games has turned into a lucrative summer job.
“I did two things I never thought I’d do,” Jandik said. “Be on the top charts for anything … and be able to make money playing video games.”
While Jandik declined to say how much revenue his app has generated so far, his dad, Wayne, said “we still make him mow the yard.”
Jandik will be attending the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota, this fall to study business and entrepreneurship. And while he’s not planning on a future in game development or programming, he said he will be utilizing apps in his future business ventures.
Until then, Jandik plans to keep enhancing his app to keep up with updates made to “Fortnite” in between college classes and studying. And playing the game, of course.
“As long as the game keeps growing, I would like to, too,” Jandik said. “It hasn’t shown any signs of slowing down, which is good news for me.”
Anna Haecherl downloaded and played “Fortnite” as research for this article. After running in circles for a few minutes while trying to figure out the game’s controls, she was taken out by another player.