Epic Games has overhauled Fortnite’s discovery tools, and creators are already reaping the rewards in the form of increased traffic.
Amid Fortnite’s evolution from a video game into a full-service creator platform, Epic Games has gradually rolled out improved discovery features to help creators and developers build their audiences, like the implementation of a creator following system earlier this year. In the lead-up to Fortnite’s “Pacific Break” Chapter 7 launch over the weekend, Epic made several significant changes to the platform’s Discover page, including the introduction of a prominent banner promoting specific creator islands at the top of the page and the implementation of a dedicated “following” tab that allows users to easily find new islands from the Fortnite creators they follow.
“With a wave of players rolling into the ecosystem for Pacific Break, this was a great opportunity to update Discover and better reward developers who are driving social engagement across their islands,” said Epic Games senior director of ecosystem growth Andre Balta in an emailed statement. “We also updated the New and For You row, which influences how Discover prioritizes and tests new content, to boost visibility for innovative islands.”
Among the early beneficiaries of the new banner feature on Fortnite’s Discover page was JOGO Studios, whose experience “Baja Party Royale” was promoted on the banner between 6am and 12pm Eastern Standard Time today, December 3. The feature had an immediate impact on JOGO’s traffic. In the 12 hours before the banner feature, the experienced reached an average hourly peak of 117 players; during the 6 hours the game was featured, it drew an average hourly peak of 1,733 players, according to the Fortnite data tracking platform Fortnite.GG, as well as an average hourly peak of 887 players in the four hours immediately following the feature.
Creator studios like JOGO make most of their revenue through Fortnite’s Engagement Payout system, which gives creators a higher revenue share for increased traffic and engagement — meaning Fortnite’s Discover page changes are putting more money into developers’ and creators’ pockets.
The benefits of Fortnite’s Discover changes extend beyond the new banner feature. JOGO Studios founder and chief operating officer Chad Mustard credited Fortnite’s updated “following” tab for a spike in traffic across all of his studio’s experiences. Since November 20, the overwhelming majority of traffic to JOGO’s Fortnite experiences has come from sources marked as “other” on Mustard’s developer back end — which he said most likely refers to traffic from the “following” tab.
“These kinds of changes give us more ways to build communities. Before, we were totally dependent on Discover, or showing up in Epic Picks. With this, we can create something consistent here. Even if it’s only 100 or 300 players, we can start building a community around that.”
JOGO isn’t the only Fortnite creator studio that has experienced a significant traffic boost thanks to its banner-feature moment. All of the Chapter-7-inspired experiences that Epic has promoted this week via the Discover Page banner appear to have gained user traffic after being featured, from “Bee Tycoon” to “Surf ‘N’ Turf.”
Epic Games’ ongoing changes to Fortnite’s discovery tools show that the company is listening and adapting to creators’ needs as Fortnite evolves into a creator platform similar to dedicated social platforms like YouTube and TikTok. As more user-generated content creators flowed onto Fortnite over the past few years, the platform’s creator community has clamored for improved discovery, which they believe could help reward developers for taking creative risks rather than copying pre-existing successful experiences.
“I do think it’s important that smaller or newer creators also have meaningful ways to grow within this system. The Followed tab helps and the sponsored row is useful for those who have the resources. But long term, discoverability needs to work for everyone, not just the top teams,” said Fortnite creator and developer Matthew “Immature Gamer” Zanazzo. “That’s how a strong and healthy ecosystem gets built, where more people feel like they have a shot at finding an audience.”