Fortnite has a huge skill curve though. It's casual friendly, but it scales up to the highest levels of competitive plays.
Agreed, as that's exactly what I said.
However, it is also interesting to see where skill ceilings differ between Fortnite and PUBG, not in how high they can go, but in how they differ mechanically and conceptually.
Fortnite has a very clear and easy to understand but difficult to accomplish skill ceiling. That being the ability to quickly erect suitable structures for the situation while simultaneously shooting at the enemy. Unfavorable terrain can be overcome with good structure planning and building. A very clear and easily understood thing, that is incredibly difficult to do well in the heat of battle when people are trying to kill you.
PUBG on the other hand has a non-obvious and much more difficult mechanic to grasp in order to reach its skill ceiling. An understanding of optics (the various scopes and how to adjust then in relation to your target on the screen), ballistics (each weapon has different ballistics characteristics), camouflage (the ability to hide in plain site which can be vastly boosted with a ghillie suit). How to evaluate the terrain to determine the best way to get from A to B without being killed. How to approach a potential combat situation. etc.
Everything in Fortnite is clear and easily understood. Spotting the enemy is made clear as the style is purposely chosen to make it easy to identify and aquire targets. Weapon fire is simplistic and to the point (without advanced physics based ballistics simulation, new players aren't left wonder why they didn't hit what they aimed at). Planning while important isn't as important as changing the situation (building things) to favor you. There's a relatively smooth ramp from starting the game to getting to higher levels.
PUBG relies on a comprehensive understanding of terrain and good planning. You can't change anything in your favor and must always go with what is available. You need to understand that spotting people who know what they are doing is often times not so much about seeing them as seeing their movement. You need to be able to choose the right scope for the right engagement distances. You need to be able to adjust magnifying scopes for distance and be able to relatively accurately judge the distance between you and your opponent. You need to be able to understand how much bullet drop X weapon has versus Y weapon. How much bullet spread S weapon has versus T weapon. How do the various attachments affect the ballistics performance of a gun (not just in terms of numbers, but in actual weapon performance). And on and on and on. It's a complex system that while not 100% realistic trys to implement many things in a realistic manner. Unlike Fortnite, PUBG puts you on the edge of the cliff to start with a near vertical wall to attaining higher levels.
It's easy to understand why Fortnite has much more mass market appeal. It's obvious what you need to do. It's obvious how things work. It's very easy to see when you get better. And multi-colored loot drops, more like multi-colored loot explosions
, always make you feel like you are making progress in a game.
But it's also easy to see why PUBG is as popular as it is. There's a real challenge to the game from the get go. Learning can be difficult, but the difficultly increases the impact of satisfaction when it is tamed. Progress in skill comes in small, sometimes unnoticeable increments. Accomplishment feels more earned than as a result of progressing down the obvious path or getting a random rare item in a loot explosion.
Regards,
SB