While Fortnite has shaken the games industry in a way we haven't seen since the rise of Minecraft, it's also responsible for some pivotal changes in the influencer space.
As Fortnite celebrates it's first birthday, we take a look back at how its release paired with the battle royale boom has impacted the games industry - and more importantly - how the influencer space has been effected.
Last month, research from SuperData showed that Fortnite was the most watched game worldwide, clocking in a massive 574 million hours worth of content across all platforms in May.
Move over Minecraft
Another prominent event is the meteoric rise that streamer and ex-esports professional Tyler 'Ninja' Blevins has experienced with Fortnite. His time with the title took him from mid-range creator to literally being the biggest (and richest) streamer on the planet.
To date, Blevins has amassed almost 10 million followers on Twitch and 15 million subscribers on YouTube. He's also the fastest YouTuber in history to grow from one to 10 million subs.
He's not the only creator that is benefitting heavily from interest in Fortnite. YouTubers in every sub tier are focusing on the title, presumably as a fast track to growth. At one point, the majority of YouTube's fastest growing channels were Fortnite focused.
And while Minecraft has reigned supreme as the most watched game on YouTube for over eight years, Fortnite managed to snatch that crown. In April 2018, Fortnite became the most popular game on YouTube.
Lucky landing
In an unsurprising turn of events, Fortnite maker Epic Games has also almost doubled in value since the title launched a year ago today.
A report from Bloomberg states that the company is worth a cool $8.5bn dollars, which is significantly up from the $5bn it was valued at last year.
While Fortnite is not the only successful title under Epic's belt, it's fair to assume that the battle royale giant has contributed massively.
Fortnite is not immune; the title has experienced minor dips in the past couple of months. However, it still reigns as the most popular title in the world by a considerable margin and shows no signs of losing that title any time soon.
