The success of multiplayer building, crafting, and battle royale game Fortnite has already led Epic Games to end support for Paragon, its MOBA (multiplayer online battle area). However, this isn't the only major impact that Fortnite is having on the games industry as financial analysts now suggest that the game could mean trouble for other gaming companies.

In a note to clients sent out earlier this month, KeyBanc Capital Markets analyst Evan Wingren wrote that "We believe the strong growth of Fortnite creates tactical risk to the video game publishers and could limit potential upside to consensus numbers." Wingren added that Fortnite could "impact engagement for all AAA games to some degree" and that "some cannibalization is likely." The monetization of multiplayer games from other publishers will suffer by approximately 10% due to the competition of Fortnite.

The dominance of Fortnite has been clear over the past few weeks. Over 40 million people are playing the game and it is so popular that even the likes of musician Drake are taking part in Fortnite streams. There is also a long line of professional athletes who enjoy playing the game, so much so that one player sported custom, Fortnite-themed shoes and others performed Fortnite-inspired celebrations.

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In fact, the game is so popular that talk shows such as Good Morning America have hosted segments asking whether children are playing too much Fortnite and whether parents should be worried about how much time their youngsters are spending playing the game. It seems as though everyone is talking about it.

The game's popularity could well grow substantially over the next few months too. Epic Games has announced plans to release a mobile version of Fortnite Battle Royale on iOS (an Android version is to come later) and it has already rocketed to the top of the charts in several regions. The mobile market represents a huge area of growth for the game and its revenue and it could help to cement the game as a success for even longer.

Although Wingren estimates that the overall games industry will be affected by Fortnite, many publishers are already taking some steps to enter the battle royale market themselves, or they are at least keeping an eye on it. For example, the new Battlefield may be taking inspiration from battle royale games, while Destiny and Call of Duty publisher Activision has said that it is "keenly aware" of the trend too. Whether battle royale modes in these franchises will be enough to curb Fortnite's success is unclear.

Fortnite is available now in early access on iOS devices, PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

Source: CNBC