On Tuesday (much to my wife’s surprise) I took delivery of my new Xbox.
The unboxing and setup experience with the Xbox was well thought out (see here). There was one problem. I didn’t buy any games.
So what do you do if you don’t have any games? You download Fortnite.
The gaming industry has been slow to move away from physical media.
The 2020 generation of consoles will change that.
It used to be that you’d spend $50 on a cartridge or disc and that was your game. In 2017 Epic Games wondered what would happen if they created a free game ‘aimed’ directly at teenagers.
That game was Fortnite.
Teenagers could play with their friends online without having to ask their parents to buy a game.
These ‘free’ games make money. A lot of money. Much more than physical games
Infinity Ward who own Call of Duty Modern Warfare made $612m selling a disc based game in 2018.
Fortnite made $1.8bn over the same period in micro transaction revenue.
You can exchange a few real $s at a time to buy V-Bucks. These can buy skins, gliders or emotes. With Microtransations it’s not hard to imagine how spending a few dollars a week can add up.
Call of Duty’s new game Warzone is predicted to make $1.1bn in 2020 by adoptoping the ‘Fortnite’ model. Thats a great recovery, but what about the 3 years of missed opportunity?
Fortnite have also revolutionised marketing
We’re not talking pop-ups or banners. We’re talking branded events, live concerts & exclusive film releases in game.
In September 2020 Fortnite launched a concert series.
They are looking to create a global ‘tour stop’ for the worlds biggest artists. These concerts will feature augmented reality and last 15-45 minutes.
Epic Games keep pushing the boundaries to keep Fortnite relevant to their audience. There are key learnings here for other industries.
This comes back to defensive side disruption
Fortnite came along and changed the market.
How easy or difficult is it for someone to disrupt your business using technology? How can you make it even more difficult? How much would disruption impact you?
This could be your game changer.
Thomas
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