Fortnite Battle Royale
The idea for "Fortnite Battle Royale" arose following the release of the similar battle royale game "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds", which saw numerous player count records broken throughout 2017. Seeing its rapid growth and commercial success, Epic Games saw the opportunity to create a battle royale mode of their own. Originally released as part of the paid "Fortnite" game, Epic spun out a dedicated version of the game offered as free-to-play funded by microtransactions, sharing in-game currency with the main "Fortnite" game, allowing players to buy or earn cosmetic items to customize their character, as well as completing challenges through a battle pass to earn additional rewards. , the game has seen over 200 million players, and has been estimated to have earned in microtransactions. "Fortnite Battle Royale" has become a cultural phenomenon, with streams of the game achieving record-high viewerships, and with several high-profile celebrities stating their appreciation of the game.
Fortnite Battle Royale
"Fortnite Battle Royale" has been jokingly referred to as the honomyn "Fork Knife" on social media, believed to have originated with people, unfamiliar with the game, described their friends and family spending time playing the game. Epic added a harvestable, non-playable "Fork Knife" food truck to the game map as the term gained popularity. In September 2018, "Fortnite" was featured as a question on the game show "Jeopardy!", and was spoofed in a skit on the September 29, 2018, episode of "Saturday Night Live". The "South Park" episode "The Scoots" featured the cast wearing "Fortnite"-based Halloween costumes. In "The Big Bang Theory" episode "The Citation Negation", Bernadette attempts to learn how to play "Fortnite Battle Royale" to beat Howard. "Fortnite" also makes an easter egg appearance in the Disney animated film "Ralph Breaks the Internet". "Fortnite" was a central focal point on the 2018 YouTube Rewind year retrospective, and included an appearance by Ninja.