With the rappers Drake and Travis Scott and Steelers wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster having recently played Epic Games' Fortnite Battle Royale with the popular Twitch streamer known as Ninja, many marked the occasion as the moment that the multiplayer sandbox survival title officially broke into the mainstream. Now, even more evidence of the game having permeated the collective consciousness of the planet has emerged, as a University of Maryland-Baltimore County player compared the experience of pulling off a major win against the University of Virginia to one's first Victory Royale.

For those who don't follow college basketball, the No. 16 seed University of Maryland-Baltimore County recently managed to achieve what is arguably the greatest and most significant upset in the history of the NCAA Tournament, by beating their No. 1 seed opponents of the University of Virginia by an incredibly wide margin of 20 points. As seen in the video footage below from a post-game Q&A recorded by Mark Armstrong of WTVD-TV, Durham, N.C., UMBC player Nolan Gerrity compares the feeling of beating UVA to one's first-ever win in Epic Games' free-to-play Battle Royale title saying, "It’s like your first Fortnite victory, honestly."

After Gerrity's comparison of the win against UVA feeling like a Victory Royale in Fortnite, the UMBC player dials it back a bit by treating the situation with a little more integrity. To put the 74-54 triumph over UVA into a clearer outlook and not downplay its pertinence from an historical perspective, he then goes on to say, "Battle Royale might be a little too far," with a laugh.

Taking all of this into consideration, with UMBC's team having name-checked Fortnite Battle Royale after such a huge win, it seems as if the title is no longer just a product that's relevant within the sphere of gaming communities and the industry at large, as the free-to-play release is now beloved by noteworthy athletes, entertainers, and far more around the globe. As a matter of fact, the emotes found within Fortnite have started to inspire celebrations after scoring in different sports, be it professional matches of rugby, soccer, or football. And with Epic Games having now made Fortnite Battle Royale mobile on iOS devices, it's likely that the excitement surrounding the title won't be dying down any time soon.

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

Source: Mark Armstrong - Twitter