Overwatch vs Fortnite: Which One Is Better?
Overwatch and Fortnite are some of the largest names in the gaming industry and for a reason. They are in-between the most popular FPS (first-person shooter) games of all time, both with stunning graphics, unique design, and amazing gameplay experience. Both games can draw you into their worlds with ease; they are the typical games you can spend a whole night playing. So the question remains: which one is more worth playing?
The general answer would be that Fortnite is better than Overwatch. One of the best metrics by which one can measure how good a game is by the size of its fan base and active, loyal players. According to the numbers, Fortnite is way more popular.
A more complicated comparison can be made between these two games, though. In the following article, we tried to collect the pros and cons of both video games and stack them up against one another, to give an even clearer analysis. Read on for more on these epic video games!
Pros and cons of Overwatch
Overwatch is a team-based multiplayer first-person shooter, developed and published by the famous Blizzard Entertainment. The game consists of two teams of six players, fighting to take over and then defend control points on the map, or to escort a payload across the map in a certain amount of time. Each player has over 30 characters, „heroes” to choose from, all of which have their own unique design, own attack and defense styles.
The game has done a great job of diversifying the first-person shooter experience. In the earlier days of FPS games, the typical cops vs terrorist scenario was an enjoyable one, but in the world of ever-improving technology, gamers just want more. Overwatch delivers a variety of gameplay styles; if you are not good at the fast-paced short-range battle, you can choose a hero with a completely new set of abilities, which you can use to color up your gaming experience.
You can set traps and speed around the map with certain characters, while with others you can face multiple oncoming attackers while moving slowly and using heavy attacks, or perhaps heal your teammates while providing support from behind the frontline. This allows for more types of gamers to enjoy the game, from casual players to professionals, everyone can find their niche in this game.
Another area where Overwatch excels is the graphics and design. It is straight-up marvelous. Every single character and map is designed with attention to detail, creating a beautiful visual experience. As our technology improves, we are seeing spectacular screens and powerful graphics cards constantly improve the world of gaming, which just begs for well-designed software. Overwatch delivers exactly that. The maps are very diverse, with some rural and some urban-like settings, with beautiful looking architecture. This immersive world has definitely helped in drawing in new players.
However great this game is, there are some flaws that are worth noticing in order to properly compare it to any other game. One of the major issues is the lack of single-player mode. Paying 60 dollars for a game that is multiplayer-only might be a turn-off for many. With such vivid imagery and cool characters, it is a shame the developers didn’t put in some extra time to create a single-player storyline. The stories of the heroes could be turned into awesome stories that one could play even if they have connection problems since connection problems or poor internet make this game unplayable.
Another problem is the matchmaking. Not the speed of it, that is great, but the balance. The system keeps track of the skills of each player, so when matchmaking begins, the system pairs together people of similar skill. This skill-based matchmaking system seems to be a great way of making games fun and competitive at the same time, but for some, it can be a nightmare. A professional player will always play with other amazing players, which gives them little to no room for having fun. A game can’t really be enjoyed in constant competitive mode, so a significant amount of pro players have left the game for this reason. Tweaking the matchmaking system might increase the player-base, and make the game more enjoyable for players of all skill level.
Pros and cons of Fortnite
Fortnite is not only a game. It has exceeded that status, permeating our modern culture in many aspects. There is a massive amount of memes, songs, and events about or centered around the game. After its launch, it quickly climbed to the top of the gaming industry, with the frequent updates getting fans ever the more invested. A special achievement of Fortnite, or rather the development team at Epic Games responsible for the game, is creating a loyal fan-base. The game has been a major hit for a lot longer time than usual. Keeping a game at the top of its league for more than a year does show something about the amount of enjoyment people get out of it.
Just as with Overwatch, one of the main positive sides to this game is the graphic design and aesthetics. It is a light, but very detailed fantasy world. Customizable characters and a map that feels almost alive create a very immersive gameplay experience. For those who are not familiar with the game mode of battle royale: 100 people parachute onto a map and scavenge items and weapons, the last one to survive wins the game. A simple concept, but Fortnite was the game that took it to the next level. Each firm that creates a battle royale game tries to add their own spin on the game, which in their hopes will attract the most players. For Fortnite, the most important add-on was the building feature. In Fortnite games, you can build makeshift buildings from items you have scavenged on your way. This adds a completely new dimension to both the gameplay and the vivid world the game takes place in. This feature helps one interact a lot more with the beautifully crafted world and just adds to the experience.
The combat in Fortnite is quite simply put, fun. The weapons aren’t fictional weapons like in Overwatch, they are real guns redesigned in a cartoon-like way, and so what makes Fortnite combat so fun isn’t necessarily the guns. It has to do partly with the building feature. Players can build mini-fortresses while playing and hide from enemies, create sniper bases, or just places to camp. Creativity is the only limit.
Unfortunately, the things that add the most to this game in some ways backfire and actually constitute most of the cons of the game as well. The most often mentioned element of the game is the building feature. The problem with that is since it is a novel feature in a battle royale, it takes some time to learn. Add to this the fact that Fortnite fans seem to be exceptionally loyal to the game, and you get the recipe for a game that is unnecessarily hard to start playing. When you do start, you are thrown onto a map with 100 other players, most of whom probably know how to use the building to their advantage. That makes for really bad odds, and thus many new players actually shy away from the game after a couple of tries.
The other thing is, while the combat is fun, it is surprisingly unpolished. Picking up weapons is needlessly difficult (you can be standing on top of a weapon and still not able to pick it up), aiming and the gun battle is not very accurate and it does not feel nearly as well put together as some of its competitors like PUBG or Apex Legends.
Which one is more popular: Overwatch or Fortnite?
Though both games have managed to accumulate a massive fan base, there is quite some difference when actually looking at the numbers and details. The hard part is making sense of all the different reported numbers. Fortnite has claimed to have about 250 million players in total, which is a huge number but is not very accurate. Just like the full number of all Facebook accounts doesn’t represent the people actively using it, only the profiles created, so does the 250 million represent all accounts ever created, not the actual actively playing people. Some of the more accurate reading is that in August of 2018, 78.3 million active players were recorded and that in April of 2020, about 12 million active concurrent players were noted at the Travis Scott in-game event.
The official player count in Overwatch was last noted to be 50 million at Blizzcon more than a year ago, other official information is hard to come by. That figure also probably represents the number of games sold, not the actual concurrent player count. Overwatch seems to be dying down somewhat in terms of popularity nowadays, with estimates of only a couple million active accounts left.
Overwatch vs Fortnite: Which one is better?
It is hard to decide overall which game is just flat out better, but based on the information collected and the increase or decrease in popularity of these games, we can come to quite a clear conclusion. Fortnite is much more popular, with a much more loyal fan base and much more active players. It has definitely affected modern culture more than Overwatch, maybe more than any game on the market, actually. Does that mean it is a better game than Overwatch? Not necessarily. Many enthusiasts claim Overwatch to be the more serious, superior game in terms of engine. Nevertheless, Fortnite comes out victorious from today’s battle, mostly due to the fan base, which has remained loyal for an unprecedented amount of time.