Fortnite may no longer be able to claim it’s the biggest video game in the world, as interest begins to fall and Minecraft sees a resurgence. EA claim UK Parliament loot boxes are ‘surprise mechanics’ and ‘quite fair’ If there’s two video games every parent, even those that have zero interest in gaming, have heard of it’s Minecraft and Fortnite (with Grand Theft Auto probably in third, even though kids aren’t supposed to play it). Fortnite’s unparalleled success has been due to just a few obvious factors: it’s free, it’s constantly updated, and it’s actually quite good. Everyone plays it but particularly cash-strapped kids, at whom most of the marketing and gaudy costumes are aimed at. But what goes up must go down and at some point Fortnite is inevitably going to see a decline in interest, and that time looks like being round about now. The latest Google search data, as noticed by Forbes, shows that interest in Fortnite has been on a steady decline and Minecraft has seen an unexpected spike – with Minecraft creators Mojang reporting that YouTube views of Minecraft related videos were up 8% last month. Fortnite’s decline is by no means sudden or unexpected but what is surprising is the rise in interest for Minecraft.
It’s probably related to the game’s 10th anniversary celebrations, which have raised its profile, and the annoucement of mobile AR app Minecraft Earth and console-based dungeon crawler Minecraft Dungeons. Although plenty of adults play Fortnite the audience for Minecraft is more predominately children, with most tending to grow out of it in their early teens. The uptick though could show that some are no longer embarrassed by their earlier obsession and are now coming back to the game. Something which Minecraft Earth is likely to encourage even more.
