Streaming superstar Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins has explained why Epic Games may have missed their chance to capitalize on Fortnite’s popularity with content creators by not releasing skins.
Fortnite made its mark on the gaming world by having a unique look, taking a different approach to the battle royale genre with building, and keeping the game fresh with regular updates.
One of the other major reasons why it is so popular is that Epic have constantly rolled out new cosmetics and even jumped on board with pop culture trends with the Avengers, Stranger Things, and even Marshmello popping up in-game. Yet, they’ve never – officially – copied games like PlayerUnknown’s Battleground and Rainbow Six: Siege in rolling out cosmetics for some of their biggest content creators.
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That may have irked fans who, while they can support a creator with creator codes, haven’t been able to don the cosmetics of a Ninja, TSM Myth, or even NICKMERCS.
It’s also something that has frustrated Ninja, as he once again brought it up on stream. The Mixer broadcaster explained how when PUBG was in its prime, creators were turned down on skins until Fortnite made its mark and the developers wanted to try and turn the tide to get the creators back on their side.
“I don’t know what it is, I don’t know if its devs being cocky,” stated Ninja. “It’s a bullsh*t move is what it is, because what’s the difference – and I’m angry about this – between giving someone a skin when your game is relevant and giving someone a skin when it’s not?”
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He noted that PUBG would have made the “most money imaginable” had they struck while the iron was hot and creators like himself, Dr Disrespect, Shroud, and Summit1g were playing – with it being easy to see how Fortnite could very well eclipse that.
“Think of all the money they’re missing out on,” he added, growing in frustration. “Truly, if it was a business decision, there would have been a Ninja skin in this game a year and a half ago when I was averaging 200,000 viewers.”
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Of course, that’s not to say that it’s not impossible to get creator skins in-game, as Ninja admitted that if he’d moved on to the next title and Fortnite dropped him-themed cosmetics, he would still play and advertize.
Whether it’ll ever be the case, though, remains unknown as Epic do their own thing and run with their own cosmetics.
