The Twitter account of ESPN tried to ride the Fortnite bandwagon, but it failed miserably and is now being ridiculed by players of the multiplayer shooter.
The popularity of Fortnite has shot up to incredible heights, fueled by its free-to-play Battle Royale mode. Brands and companies looking to take advantage of Fortnite should, at the very least, know how the game works.
ESPN Twitter Fails With 'Fortnite' Tweet
In the NCAA Men's Basketball Final Four match-up between the Villanova Wildcats and the Kansas Jayhawks, the Wildcats booked a lopsided win with a score of 95 to 79. The Wildcats unleashed a barrage of three-pointers against the Jayhawks, setting a new Final Four record of 18 three-point shots in a game.
ESPN, apparently looking to draw attention from the massive Fortnite fanbase, rolled out a short video through its Twitter account that was inspired by the multiplayer shooter. See it for yourself:
Villanova rained 3s like they were supply drops. pic.twitter.com/bAISAxdypw — ESPN (@espn) April 1, 2018
There are so many things wrong with that tweet, starting with the question of why ESPN, the biggest sports network on TV, is using Fortnite assets for its videos. The text "#1 Victory Royale" is also cringeworthy, as it was an unimpressive attempt to bring the whole video together. Perhaps the biggest offense in the tweet, however, is its accompanying text.
"Villanova rained 3s like they were supply drops," ESPN said, but Fortnite supply drops are not common at all. This would be opposite of what happened in the game between Villanova and Kansas, where three-pointers were aplenty.
'Fortnite' Players React To ESPN Tweet
As expected, Fortnite players reacted to the ESPN Twitter fail. The replies to the tweet included a lot of appropriate memes, including the following:
pic.twitter.com/22GUe73zCa — Jack L (@Jack_Long21) April 1, 2018
pic.twitter.com/HBiiwU1AXt — jay (@Jaycified) April 1, 2018
pic.twitter.com/9IBIGxDDdb — Brandon Manzella (@Bmanzella527) April 1, 2018
'Fortnite' In The Mainstream
On the flipside, the ESPN fail is a great sign for Fortnite, which has started to enter the mainstream. The popularity of the multiplayer shooter is attracting a lot of attention, not just from gamers but also from other media platforms.
One example of Fortnite's popularity is that one of the game's most popular streamers on Twitch, Tyler "Ninja" Blevins, is making $500,000 per month. Blevins did not downplay the importance of Fortnite to his success, claiming that developer Epic Games is "hitting every single mark perfectly" with the game.
It now remains to be seen whether the massive popularity of Fortnite will push Sony to rethink its stance on enabling PlayStation 4 and Xbox One cross-play.
