Why do people say Fortnite is a bad game when all the pros play it?

 Is Fortnite a bad game?

Let’s start with the good stuff, yeah?

• It’s monetisation method is maybe the best I’ve ever seen. You can pay real money to buy V-bucks, and use those V-bucks to buy cosmetics in the shop which provide no game play advantage (although, people may argue skins have an “intimidation factor”, and some skins blend in better, but that is beside the point).
• It put its own spin on Battle Royale with the addition of building. This addition really changed the way these games were played, switching from a more conservative, stealthy style, to being able to rush an opponent and out build them.
• It has allowed friends on separate platforms to finally play together. With cross play between PC, consoles, switch and mobile has allowed friends who normally couldn’t play together to play together. Also, its low minimum specs has allowed for an much wider audience on PC than opposed to a more graphically demanding game, like PUBG, for example.
• Building on from last point, it’s free. This removes a price barrier that would normally be there on other games that would stop friends playing together.
• The constant updates and community interaction by Epic Games is something I haven’t seen from any other company. They listen to complaints and change things accordingly. Example, the double pump technique was overpowered, Epic Games listened and the changed it.

Now for the not so good stuff.

• It is just another Battle Royale game. While I do admit it has put a cool spin on the genre, It still has the same goal and plays virtually the same as many of the other games. This genre is one of the genres that gets stale very fast.
• The community. Holy F*** the community is bad. By now, the very vast majority of players are under 12 who have never played any other games. They never stop talking about it and most likely do Fortnite dances in public un-ironically. These people are the ones who ruined the game for me.
• The constant updates. Yes, while this was a good thing, having to download up to 2 GB for an update every 1–2 weeks is a pain in the ass. Even more a pain when you play on mobile, console and maybe a PC. Also, these updates change things that the community liked or add things that no one needed. Example, the new mounted turret. Infinite ammo, very durable and cheap repair costs make this thing an absolute beast to fight against. Sure the cool down slows down fire rate, but with 2 turrets set up and jumping from one to the next is just overpowered.

So for the second part of the question, Why do the pros play it?

Basically, professionals go to where the money is. They need to make a living off of playing games.

Now browsing Twitch, I see this.

Notice the games with the highest viewer count are mainly eSport titles. Fortnite is popular which gives it a larger potential audience which then equals more viewers. And as we all know, more viewers = more money.

Now you may be good at pinball. Like, really good at pinball. But by looking at the viewer count on twitch:

16 people. That is not an audience big enough to make a living. This means everyone goes to Fortnite.

An example of this happening is the streamer Ninja.

He started his career playing competitively in Halo. He done good there, but as time progressed, there wasn’t a large enough interest in the game for there to be a living made. Later he moved to PlayerUnknowns Battlegrounds, the new big thing. Then he moved to Fortnite when the popularity rose and PUBG’S popularity dropped.

Fortnite also has a overall younger, more impressionable audience, so you have a wider audience and can sell the children merchandise or get them to donate.

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tl;dr Fortnite has good and bad aspects to it. It brings new things to the genre but also has a pretty bad/cringe community. The pros play it because that is where the most potential money is to be made, as opposed to a less popular game, like Pinball.

Thanks for reading!