A Glimpse Inside the "Video Game World"

In class, we began to watch a documentary about Minecraft and the expansion of the gaming industry.  Minecraft is a game that game out in the spring of 2009. This game was unique at the time, causing a lot of excitement about the game. It gave players the ability to create and build their own worlds.  According to an article written in 2016, “Microsoft, which acquired Minecraft's developer Mojang in 2014 for $2.5 billion, today revealed that since launch in 2009 Minecraft has sold 106,859,714 copies.”  An interesting thing was happening. Many people were starting to watch others play the game, instead of playing themselves.  Those individuals would record their videos, often showing tutorials on how to build certain items. Some gained major popularity and large amounts of subscribers. More recently though, in July of 2017, a new battle game went into markets.  Now having over 200 million players worldwide, this game is described as "is a player-versus-player battle royale game for up to 100 players, allowing one to play alone, in a duo, or in a squad".
Tyler Blevins, better known as Ninja, is one of the many people captivated by this exciting game.  His skills at the game and outgoing personality attracted attention, which Blevins then began to stream himself as he plays the game.  Ninja “plays for about 12 hours a day from his basement studio, accepting donations and interacting with his audience. The long hours help the world's most famous professional gamer earn more than $500,000 a month.”  Similar to the Minecraft documentary, people like to watch others play the game, sometimes more than playing themselves.  Ninja has played with and “has streamed himself playing alongside major celebrities like rappers Drake and Travis Scott, and Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.”  This type of expose brings people who might have not known about the game to possibly wanting to play. Just like with Minecraft, this is a big form of advertisement for Fortnite and the publisher, Epic Games.  

Although Fortnite is free to play, there are things players can buy.  One item, “the game sells, V-Bucks, go for $9.99 per 1,000 and can be spent on customization items. Players use V-Bucks to buy emotes, which are dance moves, and skins, which are outfits and accessories.”  These items are ways to customize your character and raise your “clout”. In 2018 alone, the company behind Fortnite, Epic Games, brought in $3 billion dollars! Tim Sweeney, founder of Epic Games, cashed in and now has a new worth of $7.18 billion.  The creator of Fortnite Darren Sugg, works alongside with Epic Games to put out new seasons, skins, weapons etc. Sugg is now a millionaire.





Sources:

 https://www.businessinsider.com/ninja-tyler-blevins-twitch-subscribers-fortnite-drake-youtube-2018-3#ninja-is-one-of-the-highest-paid-personalities-among-twitch-streamers-youtubers-and-esports-players-1

 https://motherboard.vice.com/en_us/article/8q85xk/we-finally-know-exactly-how-popular-minecraft-is

Comments

  1. AustinMarch 24, 2019 at 11:33 PM

    It is really interesting to see how the creation of a game does not only profit the game developers, but also have the ability of profit individuals who creates content from playing the game. Video streaming has became more and more popular with the release of game such as Fortnite, and many streamers are able to make a fortune from just playing the game. In addition, the free-to-play nature of Fortnite is different form the revenue model of Minecraft, or all traditional games which require the player to purchase the game. Games such as Fortnite and League of Legends has deviated from the game purchase model and have show success just by offering in-game purchases as their main source of income.

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