Triplepoints of Interest: Jan.15

In this week’s TPoI, Epic Games’ Fortnite Battle Royale receives 40 million downloads, Bungie issues an apology for throttling progression in Destiny 2, and the Nintendo 3DS 2017 sales recap is made public.  

Fortnite Battle Royale Downloaded Over 40 Million Times

Epic Games recently revealed that more than 40 million players have downloaded Fortnite, which means that over 10 million players have started to play the game since their last playerbase update in December. Glixel highlights the game’s runaway success but also notes that the success comes mainly from the addition of the Battle Royale mode, which is a far cry from the game’s original theme of zombie survival and resource management. While the game’s success has certainly helped Epic Games, Kotaku notes that the development of Fortnite has become a major focus for the studio and that it has hurt the development of their other games including Paragon and Unreal Tournament. Forbes speculates that the game’s free-to-play and multi platform release helped the game outstretch it’s competitor PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which currently has sold over 30 million units on PC and Xbox One.

Bungie Issues Apology after Destiny 2 Progression Throttling

In a blog post published Thursday, Bungie apologized for issues which have stopped players from actively participating in Destiny 2’s latest Faction Rally, a regular event in which players accumulate points for one of the game’s three factions. The blog post explains that Bungie’s development team added a hard cap to the amount of tokens a player can earn during the event, which has frustrated players who had played through content multiple times without seeing any rewards. GameSpot reports that the studio plans to make changes to the system before the next Faction Rally, but will not be extending this week’s event. Kotaku’s Jason Schreier broke down the recent Faction Rally issues and berates Bungie for not addressing the problem quickly. WCCFTech notes that this apology follows a series of similar incidents which have frustrated the Destiny fanbase.      

Nintendo 3DS Sells Well During Holiday Season

Nintendo surprised analysts on Wednesday by announcing that the Nintendo 3DS sold more than 750,000 systems last month, making December 2017 the best sales month for the device since December 2014. VentureBeat notes Nintendo’s hardware and software releases have been performing well throughout the holiday season, with games like Super Mario Odyssey and Mario Kart 8 Deluxe being part of the top five most purchased games of the season. Polygon speculates that the system’s huge backlog and current 2018 lineup is still a strong motivator for Nintendo fans, as the system has sold more than 69 million units worldwide. The Verge reports that the system may see a drop off in sales after this year, as Nintendo shifts development towards new titles on the Nintendo Switch.

TriplePoints of Interest – Week of October 5

Where do you prefer to watch the League of Legends World Championships? Twitch? Azubu? Maybe you should tune in on…BBC! This and other news from the world of games!

BBC: the next big thing in eSports

ESPN, TBS, and now BBC! Game Informer reports that BBC Three will be streaming the League of Legends World Championships starting on October 15, including all four days of the quarterfinals and other supplemental programs. Commentators will be broadcasting live from London’s Wembley Stadium, adding BBC to the list of mainstream channels broadcasting eSports tournaments.

Spend to meet your Destiny

Bungie announced they will be adding microtransactions to Destiny on October 13. GamesIndustry International reports that Bungie added this feature to “bolster the service provided by the live team for another full year, as they grow and create more robust and engaging events that we’ll announce later this year.” Bungie will be introducing silver as the Destiny’s in-game currency.

Everything you need to know about Rock Band, you learn from GameSpot

Purchased Rock Band 4 and have a lot of burning questions? GameSpot has you covered with their “everything you need to know” guide that includes how to import old songs from previous installments–including on-disc tracks, which old instruments will work on the new system, and where to buy new gear.

Ads can be games too!

Zynga is experimenting with a brand new type of ads. Called SponsoredPLAY, the advertisements are delivered in the form of mini-games. Gamasutra explored an example using Progressive’s iconic character, Flo, who appears in one of the Farmville games as part of an ad. Zynga has since reported a double-digit increase in user ad engagement.
Photo from BBC