With the game’s battle royale portion having its anniversary on September 26th, 2017, fans are celebrating Fortnite’s fifth birthday. And it’s no surprise. With its engaging and exciting gameplay, Fortnite created a wave within the gaming community.
As the game defined generations, some of the most prominent stars emerged from its midst. You could not even open social media without seeing someone post their latest clip or a screenshot of their most recent victory royale.
The rush and excitement you would get when jumping off that battle bus with your friends was like no other. Prepping yourself to grab that first weapon you see, and pray that you are able to eliminate the first person you run into.
Here are some of Fortnite’s most iconic moments.
A star emerges… Ninja takes the stage.
With the beginning of Fortnite, we also saw light brought to the stage of streaming and content creation. Although this industry was already a thing, Fortnite arguably helped blow it up.
With its start, we started to see the rise of popular names within the community. Alongside those names was the Fortnite king himself, Ninja.
Ninja Fortnite Best Moments – Image via YouTube
Ninja, who started out as a competitive Halo player, found his fame with the start of Fortnite. After various clips of him playing the game went viral, people started to notice the popularity of content creation.
His high-energy content is what drew people in. With there never being a dull moment, people fell in love with the Fortnite streamer.
Ninja – Image via Businessinsider
Then… history was made.
On March 18, 2018, Ninja had one of his most iconic and groundbreaking streams ever. This was the day that he streamed himself playing Fortnite with the celebrated rapper, Drake.
This stream set records on Twitch at the time. People could not fathom the fact that a large celebrity was merging his platform with the gaming world.
Soon after, Ninja ended up collaborating with other large artists such as Travis Scott.
Although Ninja was one of the main stars, it should also be noted that various other streamers, such as Dr. Lupo and Tfue helped shape the streaming world.
The best of the best meet in one space… The World Cup.
In July of 2018, Fortnite made history with its first and only World Cup. The game took the best of the best players around the globe and pitted them against each other in New York City.
This was the beginning of a journey nobody saw coming. The world took to their screens to find involvement with this enormous event. With names like BenjyFishy, Tfue, and more all in one arena, people were on the edge of their seats for the action.
Fortnite’ World Cup: By The Numbers – Image via Forbes
With so much going on at once, the memory that sits in most people’s minds is the final victor, Bugha.
Bugha, a small content creator and Fortnite player at the time, walked into this tournament with his head held high. After a well-fought weekend, Bugha took first place in solos.
This first place awarded him $3 million and a lifetime of fame.
The Fortnite World Cup Finals were a victory lap for Epic Games – Image via theVerge
This large prize was talked about by everyone across the globe. No one could believe a child playing video games could make that much money. This was truly the start of competitive Fortnite.
Since then, we have seen quite a few tournaments within Fortnite, with millions in prize pools. In fact, November of 2022 will be Fortnite’s first in-person event since the World Cup.
Hopefully, the next event will live up to the hype that the World Cup created.
The change of a new map shook the gaming world
Fortnite’s notorious addition of map changes throughout seasons has not gone unnoticed by gamers, but what is more legendary is their complete change of maps between seasons.
During Chapter 1, Season X’s finale, Fortnite surprised its fans by completely destroying the map players had come to love. This was something unheard of in the gaming community. Changing a map, yes, but completely getting rid of it? This was a shock.
The ‘Fortnite’ Black Hole Is A Metaphor For Our Existence – Image via Forbes
With over 7 million people watching worldwide, the game threw players into a black hole that lasted three days. During that time, no one could play Fortnite, and people were stuck wondering whether or not the game had ceased to exist.
This incredible marketing move and storyline addition brought so many old and new players back to the game. People were itching to jump in and see the game’s brand new map.
Fortnite made sure to capitalize on this transformation, bringing back the trend with their transition to Chapter 3. I think it is safe to say that we will see the map change again going into Chapter 4.
Fortnite is not going anywhere
With quite a few collaborations within the battle royale, Fortnite changed the way gaming was perceived. Marvel, Star Wars, Ariana Grande, and more have had their part in the game.
Fortnite’ Posters Hint An Ariana Grande Concert Is Coming – Image via Forbes
So here is to five years playing the greatest game ever created. Thank you, Fortnite!
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