ENTERTAINMENT PM

A Teardown of the Fortnite metaverse

Namit Singal
November 2022
 Table of ● Introduction to Fortnite
Agenda
● Summary Fortnite Teardown
Contents ● Detailed Fortnite Teardown
Introduction to
Fortnite
For this teardown, I will be focusing on FortNite
● Fortnite was launched in mid 2017
as a zombie survival game
● Following PUBG, Fortnite launched
a Battle Royale mode in late 2017
to give it massive success
● Over the years it evolved with
in-game building by players,
creator designed maps, in-game
brand partnerships and more!
● Annual revenues, MAU and DAU at
$5.8B, 250M and 20M resp.

Source: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/fortnite-statistics/ , https://activeplayer.io/fortnite/

Summary Fortnite
Teardown
 I had four themes of product learnings from fortnite …
1 2
Cross Platform Funnel Community & Social to
from mobile for UA to create a stronger hook
console for retention and virality beyond
& monetization just pure play combat

3 4
Levelling & Battle
Pass to drive
aspiration, engagement
and upselling
UGC & Partnerships to
deepen gameplay moat
and establish creator
economies

Subsequent slides will deep dive into each theme

 … as well as four themes of product recommendations
5 6
Empower creators with Improve UGC visibility
the ability to more & monetization by re-
easily create games & thinking the discovery
add own content & algo & purchase journeys

7 8
Drive UA, engagement &
spends with non-combat
games e.g. fashion,
indie music, life sim
Build AP/Africa user base
by coupling more Android
compatible devices with
local content & campaigns

Subsequent slides will deep dive into each theme

Detailed Fortnite
Teardown
 Product Learnings - Cross Platform Funnel
1

Easier to Experiment with new games on mobile but FPS

gameplay is much better on Console/PC …
● Easier to install new mobile games
because of higher usage vs
console/PC & direct journey from
ads, social media or influencers

● But, Console/PC FPS gameplay with

larger screen and remote is much
better vs smaller more cluttered
screen in mobile

Source: Fortnite in-game screenshots

 Product Learnings - Cross Platform Funnel
1

… As a result, Mobile Drives New Users with Cross-Play &

New TO Console leading retention as well as revenues
Datapoints Learnings from data

38% of new FN users started Thus, for Fortnite, mobile drives

with mobile UA with console leading retention
and monetization
2-3% vs 9-16% D120 retention
of mobile and console resp For live service FPS launches,
cross platform simultaneous
15% mobile players go from launches should be considered
mobile first to console
Note: This may not apply to
50%+ mobile first users’ emerging markets with low gaming
revenue earned on console/PC console/PC penetration

Source: Apple Epic Trial Documents: https://app.box.com/s/6b9wmjvr582c95uzma1136exumk6p989/file/806841686341 ,

https://naavik.co/digest/fortnite-activision-zynga , Numbers pertain to 2019 but insights likely to be relevant today too
 Product Learnings - Community & Social
2

Epic adds outfits, emotes, team games and more to make the
community more than just combat and Monetize!
Theme based improvements … you can enjoy and show these off in the load
refreshed every 24 hrs … screens, sky dive, gamer streams and more!

Thoughtfully designing each touchpoint can ensure user delight, create a

community as well as drive user retention and spends!

Source: Fortnite gameplay

 Product Learnings - Levelling & Battle Pass
3

three types of quests keep players hooked and engaged …

Type 1: Seasons
● Epic has built its flagship shooter games around 50-100 day
seasons each with a unique theme, story, quests
● E.g. The current season, Paradise, is about fighting The
Herald who is using the chrome compound to eat the island
Type 2: Big events and mini-games
● Fortnite also adds elements in its shooter maps on global
events like World Cup or mini-games like Avian Ambush
● E.g. There are in-map pitches with goals & balls along with
chicken who you can loot and use for attack in maps!
Type 3: Milestones to nudge trial & engagement flywheel
● There are daily, weekly, monthly milestones to drive trial of
new features and deliver initial delight to get users hooked
● E.g. Pick up a new type of gun, kill players using shotgun,
dancing in specific locations of the map

Completing quests enables you to level up, giving you V bucks to purchase
improvements like we saw earlier; Quests keep changing to keep users engaged!
Source: Fortnite gameplay
 Product Learnings - Levelling & Battle Pass
3

… with levelling/rewards to nudge users to buy battle pass

Levelling & Rewards in Fortnite Levelling & Rewards Learnings
Quests nudge players towards basic
Levelling-up allows players to earn
tasks to get hooked and then try new
V-bucks & buy items gameplay to remain hooked
There are also two subscriptions: Broad & deep quests with regular
Battle Pass: 950 V-bucks or $8/season change keep players excited and drive
Fortnite Crew: $11.99/month discussion and community

Retain enough benefits on the table

Multiple benefits of Battle Pass:
to ensure both trial and usage by
a. More V Bucks and also earn Battle non-paying players is encouraged
stars on each level-up
b. Purchase 100 Battle pass only Deliver enough incremental benefit so
your whale users see merit in paying
items using Battlestars
Game economy management can yield
Fortnite crew gives access to huge monetization even without making
Battlepass with more V-bucks & items! it easier for paying players in win

Note: Levels & items refresh each season to give new players a fair chance
Source: Fortnite gameplay
 Product Learnings - UGC and Partnerships
4

Fortnite uses ugc and partnerships to enhance depth of

content, gameplay and monetization
User generated islands and games Brand, influencer & studio partnerships

Examples shown above: Fashion show, Examples shown above: Tonight show,
Racing, Grand theft Fortnite, Squid games Patrick Mahomes, Reddysh2, Balenciaga

50%+ user time is now spent on non-Epic content! Enabling user and partnership
generated content can truly enable the gameplay flywheel effect
1. User generated 2. Fortnite twitch influencer
Source: Fortnite gameplay, Verge article on Fortnite creators, Beyond Creative studio case studies
 Detailed Fortnite
Recommendations
 Product Recommendations - New game creation
5

New games are limited to pre-defined structures, items and

rules as well as a staid building mechanism …
Limits of the current creator journey of new game creation
To create a game, creators can only
select from a predefined set of
structures, items, maps and rules

While building, users are limited to a

third person view. There is no first
person or landscape level build tool

Implications of these limitations

Limits possible Every hit creator game Lower quality of
games, maps & is more easily creator developed
items for creators copyable games

Source: Fortnite gameplay, https://naavik.co/digest/fortnite-creative-meet-unreal-engine-five

 Product Recommendations - New game creation
5

… But Three high potential but complex user stories &

engine Developments can convert these into opportunities

User created Custom game code Easy to use map

graphic elements
Design, animate &
add maps, weapons,
cars, in-game items
etc.
Source: Fortnite gameplay
and algorithms building tools
Users can develop Landscape & first
game rules, design person views, drag
the algo and push and drop, delete
code and undo, zoom
 Product Recommendations - Discovery & Purchase
6

discovery of new content and in-game purchases of UGC

can further the fortnite content flywheel
Building recommendations, search & in-game purchase features

Personalized reco widgets Search & direct to new games In-game purchases
Homepage recommendations, Game search, directly play a Allowing creators to sell
personalize games & genres, suggested games, best game in-game items within limits
suggestions after play awards, blog & newsletter to ensure quality

Potential benefits of these features

User stickiness Easier discovery with Higher monetization
with better access lower spends vs the & incentives to
to preferred games current system create new games

Source: Fortnite gameplay, https://naavik.co/digest/fortnite-creative-meet-unreal-engine-five

 Product Recommendations - Non shooter genres
7

Fortnite can improve its non-shooter games quality to

drive further engagement and new player growth
Non-shooter game quality can be … through more genre-related game
improved … elements and Epic created games

Racing: Better car Identify genres with high clicks

steering and respawn & low lift UX1 opportunities

Survivor game: Better Execute roadmap to make game

animation and movement creation better for these genres

Fashion show: Change Launch Epic created games in

getup and do ramp walks genre to get momentum running

Hang out: Chill

Assess engagement uplift to
activities & interactions
modulate roadmap for the genre

1. User experience
Source: Fortnite gameplay
 Product Recommendations - AP & Africa
8

With more Android Support and local GTM, Fortnite can

build its business in Emerging markets
PUBG has/had a strong … because of Android device
presence in AP & Africa … support & local Go to Market

Android MAU in Dec’19 (M) Epic Android requirements

Country 64-bit on ARM64 processor,
Fortnite PUBG Android OS 8.0, 4GB RAM

India 0.1 32.0 Pubg Android requirements

Android 5.1.1 or newer with
Pakistan 0.0 14.5 at least 2GB of RAM

Egypt 0.0 10.7 Pubg succeeded in AP/Africa

with local ads, content &
Indonesia 0.0 7.0 regular tournaments

As PUBG faces bans & regulatory ire in emerging markets, Fortnite can capture
this opportunity with more Android device support and local Go to Market
Source: Apple Epic Trial Documents, Epic website, Play Store, Pubg tournaments, Pubg local ads
Thank you!