>>19628137

>On top of that there's bad press to Fortnite for swindling kids out of money for purchases

Loot box mechanic deserve more public attention but it is a difficult one. It's a small portion of the public that has that particular gambling addiction. Otherwise it is a neat way to support your favorite gaming company, and get some nice rewards.

Gaming companies rise and fall so fast. It's hard to retain peoples attention in 1 game. World of Warcraft and a few other MMOs outlasted everyone. 850 employees isn't a game-changer; like I said, sounds like a fat-trim.

>>19628173

If you go to Twitch.tv, you can gauge the relevance of a game by checking view counts. Best to check around primetime. Fortnite is still high up on the list; not like in its hayday, but around major Update points in its game cycle you will see spikes in player / viewer count.

Also you can check steam's statistics page:

https://store.steampowered.com/charts/mostplayed