Why Epic Games’ Fortnite Creative marketing push is sparking calls for more transparency from some creators

“Fortnite creators have the ability to submit their islands for consideration across a variety of promotional opportunities, including the Epic’s Picks Discover row and through our social media channels,” an Epic spokesperson said.

Epic’s marketing support of specific Fortnite Creative experiences does not represent an official partnership between the game developer and the creator studios that published those experiences. In fact, the developers who benefited from the campaign only found out about it when it crossed their own social feeds. For Fortnite experiences such as “Mercenaries,” the marketing campaign caused an immediate and significant uptick in users — and the experience’s creators at Alliance Studios didn’t even know where the traffic was coming from when it began to flow in.

“It was super exciting. We found out certain streamers were paid to play mercenaries and promote it on their platforms, and it grew a crap ton from all that promotion,” said Alliance CEO Mackenzie Jackson, who told Digiday that the campaign caused the experience’s concurrent user numbers to jump by the thousands, but did not share exact figures. “So it definitely was super helpful.”

Although Fortnite Creative has become a popular platform for creators over the past year, it has also developed a copycat culture, with the bulk of creators imitating tried-and-true experiences rather than experimenting with new types of games or content.

As simulations and survival games, “Lumberjack Heroes,” “Mercenaries” and “Havoc Hotel” are noticeably different from many of the other games on the platform. Epic’s marketing support of these games is an intentional bid to expand its user base by enticing players who might not be enthused by the bulk of Fortnite Creative’s offerings.

“When making selections, we look for islands that are innovative, may resonate with players, or incorporate distinct game design,” the Epic spokesperson said. “Our requirements are intentionally open-ended so that creators aren’t limited in what types of games and experiences they submit. We offer guides to assist creators during the application process, as well as resources on how creators can promote their islands.”

Although Epic does provide creators with guidance regarding the submission process for its Epic’s Picks discovery tool, some creators have pointed out the lack of a similar level of transparency regarding exactly which experiences are selected for additional marketing support. Although they understand and agree with the company’s goal of highlighting unique content, this type of experimental content is much less of a moneymaker than tried-and-true game types, both in terms of user traffic and potential brand sponsorship interest. 

“We have to focus on what we know is the less-risky bet — games that we know work on the platform — which is no good for them and no good for us, from a creativity standpoint,” said Margot Rodde, founder of the Fortnite Creative studio Creators Corp. “We’ll always covet the medium hit rather than the big hit, because the big hit will come from something completely new, but the risk of doing that is so high that we can’t go for it. We would be able to do it if there was some transparency about what they’re willing to support, and a fair application process.”

For now, most of the users who log into Fortnite Creative do so to play games similar to the game’s primary “Battle Royale” first-person shooter mode. But if Epic wants to make its platform a genuine metaverse on the level of competitors such as Roblox, it is necessary for the company to encourage its users to get more creative with the experiences they build inside it. Lack of transparency notwithstanding, the marketing support that Epic is providing for unique in-game experiences could be one way to make this potential future into a reality.

“I don’t think of Fortnite as a game; I think of Fortnite as gaming. And if you think of it in that context, we’re going to end up in a world where you can create everything from a tycoon game to a first-person shooter to a sim game in Fortnite,” said Gareth Leeding, global chief strategy officer at the gaming marketing company Livewire. “And that, to me, is them going, ‘we can be much bigger than Battle Royale or an FPS.’”