Recently celebrating its one-year birthday, “Fortnite” has captivated the minds of more than 125 million people around the world. This sensation has taken over social media and almost every single gaming platform. Free to play, this recently founded video game is available on PC, PlayStation, Xbox, iPhone and recently on Android devices.

“Fortnite” has captivated the minds of people of all ages. Predominantly, the high school population has been the most obsessed with this battle royale game, including myself.

Out of 305 PEHS students surveyed, 73.44% of the students (224) of them have played “Fortnite” before. However, out of those 224 who have played it, only 109 still play it. That is less than 50% of the people who still play it.

Which leads me to wonder whether or whether not “Fortnite” is actually dying.

Many major esport influencers such as Ninja and Tfue have openly spoke about how the game has changed in the span of a year, for better or for worse.

But since “Fortnite” is available to almost every single owner of technology for free, this game may never truly die out.

Fewer people play “Fortnite” each day, however, millions of people still continue to play it. Unlike “Call of Duty” or any other previously popular video game, this game requires a total of zero dollars. This allows people who are not able to afford games to play it.

Sophomore Alberto Robles, who describes himself as a competitive player, said that he downloaded Fortnite because it was a team game, and it was free.

Groups of one to four teammates can team up and play together, the game requires major cooperation if the goal is to win.

90 to 100 people are dropped from the battle bus and get to choose where they would like to drop. After landing everyone rushes to grab loot that they will use to kill everyone else. The purpose of this game is to be the last one or the last team standing when the iconic “#1 Victory Royale” banner pops up.

Taking over social media of all sorts, “Fortnite” has become an everlasting meme.

Senior Samar Gill said, “I don’t think it will die anytime soon.”

There are many aspects to this game that attract all these people. Gill said that his favorite part of “Fortnite” is the competitive nature. “No two players are the exact same. Everyone’s got their own style of playing. Everyone has different key binds,” he said.

Robles said he prefers, “The building element because it brings new necessity to battle royale.”

Originally, “Fortnite” was a PC only game but ended up straying from its original plans and spreading to different platforms.

However, since “Fortnite” allows cross play between PC and consoles, people who are not able to play other games together can play this together.

Recently, the beta of the new “Blackout” game mode on “Call of Duty Black Ops 4” had been released. People speculate whether this game will take over the gaming world and make “Fortnite” die down and lose its player base.

Robles said, “I haven’t gotten to play it yet, but it feels like “Black Ops 4” is going to have the same build to it. It seems like they’ve put countless hours into it.”

As many “Fortnite” addicted players around the world, I am in denial of this game actually dying. However, I cannot argue with the facts that prove that “Fortnite” has slowly lost its player base.

Countless hours and 500 wins later, the excitement that the game once provided me is faltering.

“Fortnite” may never truly die, but it may continue to lose players.