Fortnite Battle Royale is taking over not just the gaming world but also popular culture. It has now become such a phenomenon that even rapper Drake jumped on the bandwagon earlier this month.
The game essentially drops 100 players onto an island where they compete against each other until there’s just one left standing. It’s free to play, but in-app purchases hit $103 million in February, quite a testament to its insane popularity.
So why’s is it doing so well?
According to Brandon Davis, Special Assignment Producer at ComicBook.com, the appeal lies in the fact that “it’s like the Hunger Games.”
“It’s a lot of things that you can compare it to that you’re familiar with.” Plus, “it’s easy to get a grip on.”
Janet Rose, known on Twitch as “xChocobars,” is one of the lucky few who’ve won a game of Fortnite. She says it is “really fast-paced.” But even she doesn’t exactly know what’s behind the hype.
“I’m still figuring out why I like it so much compared to other games.”
The price of popularity is the heavy lift for the tech behind the scenes. Fortnite servers have gone down as they struggled to keep up with intense traffic.
“Those types of things tend to happen while this game is so popular,” said Davis.
For the full interview, [click here](https://cheddar.com/videos/no-fake-love-for-fortnite).
Esper Bionics CEO Dima Gazda breaks down how they're creating a mind-controlled bionic hand that guest smarter the more you use it, and what this innovation means for the future of the prosthetics industry.
On this episode of Cheddar Innovates: Brightseed Co-Founder breaks down what plant bioactives are, and how they're using the latest technology to study human's biological connections with plants; Esper Bionics CEO breaks down how they re creating a mind-controlled bionic hand that guest smarter the more you use it; Cheddar gets a look at Curiosity Stream's 'Capturing A Black Hole In Our Milky Way.'
The crypto industry is still reeling from Terra's recent crash. The company's blockchain was temporarily halted earlier this month after the collapse of its cryptocurrency Luna (LUNA) and its stablecoin TerraUSD (UST), which led to almost $45 billion being wiped from the tokens' market caps within a week. Now, many are left wondering what Terra's struggles mean for the broader crypto market. Reeve Collins, CEO of the NFT platform BLOCKv, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell from Davos 2022 to discuss.
China's largest ride-hailing company will no longer be listed on the world's largest stock exchange. Didi shareholders voted on Monday to delist from the New York Stock Exchange, less than a year after launching a $4.4 billion IPO with the most significant U.S. share offering by a Chinese company since Alibaba debuted in 2014. Since going public in June of last year, around $70 billion has been wiped from Didi's market value and shares of the company have dropped nearly 90%. Now, Didi is expected to begin preparations to list in Hong Kong. Kevin T. Carter, founder and Chief Investment Officer of EMQQ Global, joins Cheddar News' Closing Bell to discuss.
Ahead of the Meta shareholder meeting, more than five hundred doctors have jointly sent a letter to investors to hold the Facebook parent accountable for the risks its platforms have posed to the public and mental health. Dr. Rob Davidson, a West Michigan ER physician and executive director of the Committee to Protect Health Care, joined Cheddar News to discuss how medical professionals are coming together to highlight the social media giant's spread of misinformation, especially during the pandemic. "We've seen the direct impacts of misinformation and disinformation that spreads like wildfire on the social media platforms," he said. "Our goal with this letter is to try to get the shareholders of Meta to convince leadership that they need to do a better job."
