Fortnite Battle Royale is arguably the hottest thing in gaming right now, which is impressive given it’s a free spinoff as opposed to a full-featured title. Battle Royale has amassed 125 million players in less than a year, and it’s so big that Epic Games organized a massive tournament at E3 2018, one with eye-popping contestants. The Fortnite Pro-Am featured 50 two-player teams — each consisting of a pro Fortnite player and one celebrity — who battled it out to be the last team standing.
Among the celebrities competing were NBA star Paul George, comedian Joel McHale, and EDM musician Marshmello, but their presence paled in comparison to that of the pro Fortnite players. For a generation of gamers, names such as Ninja and Markiplier evoke an almost divine reverence. Before the event, we quickly caught up with one pro, Twitch streamer Pokimane, to talk about the rise of Fortnite, its impact on her career, and her advice for beginners.
Pokimane first tried Fortnite as part of a sponsorship, but the allure was immediate.
“When I played for a few hours on stream, I saw that so many of my other friends were playing as well, and my viewers loved it, so I got instantly hooked and I’ve been playing ever since.”
While streaming may seem like it’s all fun and games, it’s a full-time job. Pokimane estimates she plays Fortnite at least 40 hours a week. Building a following, however, even through a game as popular as Fortnite, requires a lot of engagement with viewers.
“I’ve been streaming for a long time, so I had my core community watching me, which I appreciated a lot,” she said. “I think, if anything, the popularity or any success [I might have achieved] really comes from community building. So many awesome people in the streamer world of Fortnite were just willing and happy to play with me.”
For those considering dipping their toes into the world of Fortnite, Pokimane has some sage advice.
“Whatever game you’re playing, just play for fun. Find some friends to join you. Having fun, at the end of the day, is the most important thing,” she said. “But if you’re trying to get better, build! Just learn to build well. That’s the key to the game!”
If you want to see more from Pokimane, you can find her on both Twitch and Instagram.
The Call of Duty franchise has held a special place in my heart ever since I played my first Black Ops game back in 2010. That game's campaign was something else, with twists and turns that culminated in a mind-blowing finale. We can all admit that compared to those older campaigns, the recent CODs have been lackluster at best, and a complete and utter disappointment at worst. The reboot of Modern Warfare did give me some hope, as the first two installments were actually quite good, but the third game left such a bad taste in my mouth that I wasn’t exactly expecting much from Modern Warfare 4.
After recently finishing the campaign, I can say that this installment is nothing like the recent releases and instead feels closer to the franchise’s roots. For the first time in a long while, the campaign comes across as well-crafted rather than rushed to hit a release date. It arrives three years after MW3, and you can see exactly where all that time went. It seems the studio finally made listening to player feedback a priority.
Epic Games has just announced the 2026 Epic AI MegaJam, which is looking to see how much game development can be squeezed into a very short window. This is running from November 12 through November 15.
Participants can work alone or in teams of up to five people, build in Unreal Engine or Unreal Editor for Fortnite, and bring along “as many AI agents as you want.” Epic explicitly encourages coding agents, AI-generated assets, audio tools, writing tools, and other AI systems. The official event page literally says "Vibe your way to $50k.”
It’s turning into a pretty good time to be a Monster Hunter fan who plays on a phone. Capcom has confirmed that Monster Hunter Outlanders will launch on Android and iOS on October 29, giving the series a new mobile-first game just as Monster Hunter Rise is also preparing to make the jump to smartphones through Netflix.
Outlanders is being developed by Tencent subsidiary TiMi Studio Group under license and supervision from Capcom. Unlike Rise, which appears to be the full console and PC game adapted for mobile, Outlanders is a free-to-play survival hunting game made specifically for phones.