Fortnite is Succeeding at Becoming a True Metaverse Where Actual Metaverse Companies Have Mostly Failed

Reader Tan Mojo saw the literally massive Travis Scott performance in Fortnite, and says something succinctly that's been hovering in the air:

This was life changing. For a person like me who wants to become a content creator, this was a huge realization that the metaverse does not lie within known pastures. SL, Sansar, OpenSim, VRChat, High Fidelity, Sinespace -- all of these platforms INTENDED to become the metaverse have all failed in their own way (although I still have hope for Sinespace).

And here comes Fortnite with cartoony graphics, player base of kids, twitchy gameplay, and now live social events! Not intended to be the metaverse, but is starting to morph into one. The goal of Epic Games CEO is to transform Fortnite into a social hub that supports monetized user created content. Fortnite already has a creative mode and now offers a non-combat hub/map.

Yeah, the music was prerecorded and the entire event was pre-scripted. But, it was one of the most visually stunning things I've ever seen. The audience was not passive either. The event manipulated player actions, clothing, and surroundings.

This is a significant event. 12.3 million in attendance. Epic Games has the technological infrastructure to spin up 100,000+ virtual instances to accommodate that many people. It has made me rethink what the metaverse could be and who might be involved in actually creating it.

I downloaded Fortnite last night. I'm looking forward to this weekend of exploring the non-combat aspects of it. I also plan to do this Core and hopefully soon, Crayta, via the Stadia platform.

Minecraft was the writing on the wall. This Travis Scott Fortnite event just broke that wall.

I agree that Sinespace is still in the running to be a metaverse, but I am of course highly biased. What's fascinating to me is that a conscious intent on a company's part to become the metaverse (i.e., roughly defined, an open and shared 3D world that unifies all content and varieties of imagination), almost by definition insures that this goal will not be met. But when the original goal is just to make a fun and broadly appealing game -- as Minecraft did years ago, and Fortnite is doing now -- your chances of evolving into a metaverse seem to be much higher.

Mr. Mojo's point echoes a tweet storm recently unleashed by VC Matthew Ball, who wrote this must-read essay on the metaverse earlier this year:

Fortnite continues to push away from BR/gun-based play as it pursues more social/hangout-based virtual world experiences. Launching a new island focused on races, building, fishing, dancing, skill competitions -- no guns allowed, no deaths.

Concerts, movie-tie in events, in-game movie theater, etc., are important, get lots of attention.

But macro consideration is that there's a low ceiling to high skill games, especially adversarial ones.

Virtual worlds need to fit many levels of immersion, skill, emotional needs.

We watch 'Game of Thrones' and 'The Office' differently, and 'The Office' is rewatched even more differently.

Your mother won't go to Fortnite for the same reason you do, just as parents first joined Facebook to see photos of their kids, understand their lives and friends...

Eventually, you get to a point where games are just an area in a virtual Fortnite world you enter, almost like being in a mall and going into the VOID VR experience, then grabbing a meal and shopping with friends, then doing a pottery class. It's *a* thing you do

Fortnite continues to push away from BR/gun-based play as it pursues more social/hangout-based virtual world experiences

Launching a new island focused on races, building, fishing, dancing, skill competitions - no guns allowed, no deaths https://t.co/7wua9XmesV

— Matthew Ball (@ballmatthew) April 29, 2020

Much more here.

Comments

[Gordon]

I agree with Tan Mojo. I have watched the Travis Scott event on YouTube at least 20 times by now. But not 20 times the same video, but each time from a different Fortnite player. And every video is unique because it is always recorded from the player's perspective. There are certainly more than 1000 different videos of the event on YouTube. There is even a 360° recording that you can watch with a HMD (see https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J8dWAt4Vel8 ).

This event was a big step on the way to a future metaverse. I do not like Fortnite. The animations of the avatars are horrible and the game concept is so 1990s. I don't like rap music either. But the Astronomical event is the best virtual entertainment I have experienced on the internet so far. Epic Games has created something epic!

[sirhc desantis]

Like Gordon, I watched several different takes which says a lot - there was enough 'coo' factor in it despite that hyperactive *best redacted* vid you originally posted =^^=
Very impressive. And yep it is a massive step to get away from the pew pew mind numbing run and gun side.
Basis for the metaverse? Heard that before but at least its a good stab at it. Interested to know what tools will be available. Over the years yes I tried SL, Blue Mars, the other failed thing, Sansar, HiFi, a toe in SineSpace (and will say that still has skin in the game) but the only one that stuck is SL (includes OS as its pretty much the same from most points of view - xferrable skills, whatever little I have, for one). For a start its reasonably stable (ha), has reasonable script capability (with documentation - come on, not going to wait another decade for a bloody user generated wiki - times too short!) and a user base but mostly - because it pays for itself for our little group, covering a handful of premiums with enough left over for ahem *fun*. Enough in fact to drop 30 bucks this week on tools from another user.
Now anything that can offer what I already have access to with bonuses gets my attention. This could be it.

[Tan Mojo]

Wow! Thanks for providing focus on my comment. It is an honor. I've been a NWN lurker for years and finally felt compelled to speak out.

SL has rightly evolved into something that is unique to itself. I have a sim there and enjoy my time inworld. The concept of mainland is something that has yet to be replicated. It is unique to SL and I never want to see that disappear. I truly wish SL continued success for many years to come.

I believe that if LL can integrate SL into the cloud the right way (retooling for cloud architecture), they could transform SL into a modern version of itself. It could become a contender for what the metaverse will be like going forward. Things will break. Chaos will ensue. But, it's the only way forward.

What the Fortnite Travis Scott event taught me was that the metaverse will be born from a conglomeration rather than a singular source. This thinking helps me stay open-minded and to check out new things. Fortnite never entered my mind until NWN posted the video. And now, I'm looking at things in a new light. I appreciate the insight.

[Joey1058]

The concept of a "metaverse" by it's very nature changes every time someone tries to define it. When the IEEE working group set a definition, I don't think they anticipated just how fluid the concept really is. Our good friend Will Burns steadfastly sticks to the IEEE definition. But sooner or later he's going to find that the original definition no longer fits the direction that "the metaverse" travels. It's almost a thing unto itself, and it changes just like people do. Neal Stephenson's definition no longer fits what the IEEE wrote, and today, the IEEE definition is like a square peg in a round hole.

[Wagner James Au]

"Fortnite never entered my mind until NWN posted the video. And now, I'm looking at things in a new light. I appreciate the insight."

I appreciate your insight that helped enforce my insight!

[Mercb]

Sounds like fortnite is going to become the next Sims, how many teens do you think would give up shooting and go fishing instead? Sounds highly unlikely.