Video games are beginning their takeover of the real world.
Across North America this year, companies are turning malls, movie theaters, storefronts and parking garages into neighborhood esports arenas.
At the same time, content farms are spinning up in Los Angeles, where managers now see gamers as some peculiar new form of famous person to cultivate – half athlete, half influencer.
And much of it is powered by the obsession with one game: “Fortnite.” During the last month, people have spent more than 128 million hours on Twitch just watching other people play “Fortnite,” the game that took all the best elements of building, shooting and survival games and merged them into one.
How obsessed are people? After each of their wins this season, the Houston Astros – among many other sports teams – are doing a very specific dance, their arms in the air, fingers spread, their legs bent, toes tapping rapidly. It’s a “Fortnite” dance.