Fortnite: Chapter 2

Overview

Fornite: Chapter 2 refers to an update to the video game Fortnite, adding new characters, levels, items and gameplay options.

Background

Fortnite Blackout

On October 13th, 2019, the final day of season 10 of Fortnite Battle Royale, an event, referred to as "The End," took place in the game.^[1] During the event, a rocket was launched into the sky following a countdown, triggering space rifts above the map, with rockets and a meteor traveling between them, and a black hole opening on the map and destroying it (video of the event shown below). Those players who were in the Fortnite game at that time were shown an alternative version of the event.^[2] Following the event, the matchmaking was made unavailable to the players, with the game menu replaced with a video of a black hole and the game UI replaced with the single option to exit the game.

At the same time, the official Fortnite account deleted all previous posts and tweeted a live stream video of the in-game black hole, with the tweet receiving over 125,000 retweets and 320,000 likes in one day. (shown below).^[3] On Instagram, a collage of nine posts forming an image of a black hole in a middle of space was posted, with one of the images gaining over 5.6 million views and 1.8 million likes in one day.^[4] On Twitch, the official Fortnite channel launched a broadcast of the in-game black hole.^[5]

Fortnite: Chapter 2 Release

At about 4am EST on October 15th, the blackhole graphic changed to a loading screen. During this time, a message appeared on the screen.^[6] It read, "Fortnite servers are currently undergoing maintenance. Please try again later."

That morning, Epic released a trailer for Fornite: Chapter 2 as players began updating the game on their various consoles. When the updates completed, players could return to Fornite for "Chapter 2." Within 24 hours of the trailer's release, the video received more than 1.9 million views (shown below).

Developments

Online Reaction

That day, Fortnite posted the trailer on Twitter. ^[7] They wrote, "Drop into a New World 🌎 Fortnite Chapter 2 is available now." The post recieved more than 3.5 million views, 183,000 likes and 40,000 retweets in 24 hours (shown below).

Following the release of the game, people began sharing their "first drops" into the game using the hashtag "#FirstDrop" (example below, left and center).

That day, Redditor ^[8] createdbyeric posted a "high res" image of the map on the /r/FortNiteBR subreddit. The post received more than 11,000 points (86% upvoted) and 650 comments in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Redditor sn1ped_u shared a video on the /r/FortNiteBR trying out some of the new features, including the ability to pick up and throw players. The post recieved more tahn 8,200 points (96% upvoted) and 250 comments in 24 hours (shown below).

Additionally, players reviewed the update on YouTube. YouTuber LazarBeam shared a video entitled "Fortnite CHAPTER 2 is AWESOME," recieved more than 945,000 views in 24 hours (shown below, left). YouTuber TheSmithPlays shared a live stream of the event that received more than 7.1 million views in 24 hours (shown below, right).

Search Interest

External References