Fortnite Battle Royale seems like it will earn the title of Game of the Year for 2018. With over 3.4 million concurrent players, the numbers only seem to keep getting larger. The game Fortnite is set in an apocalyptic Earth, where the sudden appearance of a worldwide storm causes 98% of the world’s population to disappear, and zombie-like creatures rise to attack the remainder. However, the part of the game that has the most attention is the battle royale multiplayer.

Lately on social media we have seen a spike in posts about Fortnite and people posting their game wins. There has even been jokes for petitions to end the game. It has obviously taken the internet by storm. As the game comes out on more platforms such as Nintendo Switch and mobile it could only get more popular.

Players go into a game to land on a large map with multiple towns, factories, warehouses, and other places. When the player lands they have to try to find loot in order to survive and eliminate the 99 other players. People can play by themselves, a pair, or a group of four. Every once in awhile they have special game modes with different settings to the map, teams, or loot. And even with trying to defend and attack other players, there is the deadly storm that slowly circles in pulling everyone closer to the fight.

But what about this game is bringing in the extremely high number of players.

Damin Rawlins, a Pitman sophomore, says “I just started playing because my friends told me about it, and that it was fun. I play it’s just a cool way to pass time with friends and it’s fun like other video games.”

Justin Belloli, a Pitman junior, says the reason he plays is “I downloaded the game in october after seeing a youtuber play it. I play with my friends because it’s an overall exciting, fast paced game that anyone can pick up in a few hours.”

The fun gameplay of Fortnite and it’s exciting movement seems to draw a lot of people into the game. The main reason though seems to be just to have fun with friends and the social part of the game. And as the game is still in beta, there will be way more new items and different gameplay changes. This is still only the beginning of what looks like the game of the year.