Epic Games - Fortnite Case Study

Epic Games - Software and video game company 

Epic games began in 1991, founded by Tim Sweeney. The company was initially called Potomac Computer Systems and began as a small start-up located at his parents' house in Potomac, Maryland, USA. From these humble beginnings and after two name changes Epic games has become a multi-billion dollar company, currently valued at 32 Billion in 2023. In recent years Epic Games has produced such popular games as World War Z, Gears of War and Fortnite. Fortnite was launched in July 2017 and has been a huge success for them, as has the gaming engine they developed called Unreal Engine. 

Audience

The game Fortnite is aimed at young people and adults from 13 years old and upwards. The game had 125 million players within a year of its launch and 350 million registered users worldwide. It was the most popular game in the US in 2019. In terms of demographics, 26% of preteens in the US play Fortnite (SuperData Research, 2019) even though it is meant to be 13+. The majority of players are between 18-24 (62.7% Verto analytics). Also, many adults play the game and 2% (Verto analytics) of players are 45-54 years old. An overwhelming percentage of participants are male 72.4% (Verto analytics). 

Considerations when designing the game would have been made to the target audience and the platforms on which it can be played. It is widely compatible across many different devices including Xbox, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and many android devices, and PC and Mac computers.  It is heavily aimed at young males. These are currently the most active group of gamers and it makes sense to market to the biggest users of games to create the most income. The visual design of the game and themes within it are designed to appeal to this demographic bringing together elements of exploratory building games like Minecraft with violent fighting games like Call of Duty. 

How a game like Fortnite is created

Pre-production phase

How: Planning and pre-production

This is the ideas and concept stage. Decisions need to be made about what genre your game will be, whether it will be 2D or 3D and what the look is that you're aiming at. Other considerations are what gameplay mechanics will you use, who are the main characters - heroes and villains and which game engine will you choose. At this stage, ideas may shift around and completely change. This is a very important stage as it is where the foundations are laid for the rest of the process. Having a strong idea, clear aims, stories and concepts will really help the latter parts of the process and avoid problems. Also to be considered at this stage is who your target audience are and how that could impact the popularity of the game. 

If we are looking at a game like Fortnite, there would have been a large team involved in all of these tasks to develop initial ideas and concepts, research what is possible and put a suitable team together to develop the ideas. 

The next stage, after these questions have been answered is to develop a proof of concept. This will identify what is needed to create the game. Important questions would be how much it will cost, how funds will be raised, how long will it take, do you need to outsource for expertise, which platforms will you aim at and how will you monitise the game. 

Production phase

At this stage storyboards and prototypes will be made and ideas will be edited, adjusted and potentially cut. Artists will choose colour themes and styles suited to the genre, theme and story of the game. Developers will work on the practical functionality of the game and scriptwriters will develop the storyline and engineers will make the functional game. There will be a keen eye kept on the user interface and user testing. For something like Fortnite, this production process took 6 years with a huge team effort. 

This phase is the longest and most complex seeing the game move from concept to a playable game. 

Post-production phase

The likelihood that there may be bugs in the game when first launched is huge, even with vigorous testing.  The players may discover new ones so these will need to be patched. Post-launch it is possible to provide some additional content via some new free downloadable content such as patches for adding new weaponry or other elements. 

Job roles in the games sector

Role 1: Character Artist

A character artist specialises in 3D modelling, creating gaming elements based on the original concept artwork for a video game. They would work with keeping to the overall look and feel. This role would involve designing digital characters that are fully formed and are then playable but need to remain close to the original concept. The character artist would have a good eye for facial expressions, anatomy, and physical movement and sophisticated technical skills across relevant software for creating game characters.

Role 2: UI Artist

UI artists focus on making all the functionality look good. They support the UX designers who focus on making wireframes and developing the experience of the player when interacting with the game. This role in the early stages of development involves creating the design for the look and feel of the user interface. The core development stage covers creating wireframes and adding artwork to the gaming engine for engineers to make functional. The last step is to polish the art, add animations and generally perfect the product.

Role 3: Junior associate producer

A junior associate producer plays an integral role in bringing games to market. The person in this role works closely with the lead producer to support all development areas. They work closely with developers to ensure a smooth build, identifying issues/concerns within project timelines and finding a possible solution. They also work closely with the marketing team and the wider network to ensure that game builds are delivered on time.  

Role 4: Audio engineer 

The audio engineer would be in charge of arranging music, sound effects and character voices for a game in development. They would work with producers and designers to create and mix the soundtrack, possibly compose music, produce sound effects and audition and record actors for voice roles. The person in the role would have a technical understanding of audio recording equipment and software. This role is similar to being a sound technician in the film and broadcasting industries.

Employment contracts in the games sector

1 Full time

A full-time contract which is usually 35-40 hours per week, with holiday allowance and other perks of the job. It allows for someone to build their career in an organisation and gain financial stability and security as it is an ongoing contract. 

2 Part-time

This generally also would be a continuous post with a contract with the employer, the only main difference being working a shorter number of hours than full-time and being paid proportionately. It could be a job share or a part-time role. 

3 Sub-contract/Outsourcing

Sub-contracting is when a company hires another individual or company to complete a specific task that cannot be done internally. This is done on a temporary contract basis and could be to an individual or to a company. When contracting this is usually for a specific delineated period that is finite. Contracting provides flexibility and is often well paid however if this is an individual, the person contracting has to arrange their own insurance cover for sickness, save for their holiday pay and pension. They would also organise their own taxes as a self-employed person. It’s good for building a wide range of experience, or if providing specialist skills, good for networking but highly competitive. 

Outsourcing is when a company uses an external company to work for them. The external company employs people to do the work required. The contract is usually on a temporary basis. 

4 Freelance

Similar to sub-contracting, creative freelancers can be anyone who receives income for their creative work. They are not employed but rather work on contracts on different projects. They would be expected to work to a specific brief and if they don’t meet deadlines there could be penalties built into contracts. Contracting provides flexibility and is often well paid however the person contracting has to arrange their own insurance cover for sickness, save for their holiday pay and set up their own pension. They would also organise their own taxes as a self-employed person. 

Sources

https://financesonline.com/fortnite-statistics/

https://gamemaker.io/en/blog/stages-of-game-development