Richard Lewis Explains the Direction He’d Like to See Epic Games Go with Fortnite Esports
Richard Lewis is one of the world’s most renowned esports journalists. Having worked in the industry longer than some pro players have been alive, he’s well versed on what works.
The British personality saw his own stock elevated in the esports boom, and is now reaping the rewards for years of well documented hard graft that could quite easily have resulted in a very different life.
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After working with TBS in Atlanta for two years, bringing authentic esports to national television, Richard now works for an undisclosed company in Las Vegas.
Although his role is off the record right now, he has continued to make YouTube videos on his channel and remains an authority on everything esports.
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We wanted to discuss Richard’s career, so we invited him on the Dexerto Talk Show. During the one-hour video podcast the subject of Fortnite came up.
As someone with their finger on the pulse of what works in esports, we were keen to find out where he thinks Fortnite can live in the competitive gaming ecosystem.
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When asked about the popular Battle Royale game, Richard gave a glowing review of the title and how it’s captured the world’s attention through regular and fun updates. He also expressed a desire to see the crazy prize money invested into more structure.
“I hope they will spend a large portion of that on creating like a circuit, tournaments, something that has that aspirational element around it so it’s not just a bunch of people who happen to be good at a game. Something that will give it a bit more structure, a bit more narrative. I think that would be great.
But honestly, Fortnite need to, and I’m sure they know this, Epic Games don’t need to be told anything by me, but a lot of esports and just gaming popularity in general, you’ve got to make hay while the sun shines. Right now they’re on top, rewind a year and it’s PUBG and we had all the same conversations”
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After briefly discussing PUBG and H1Z1, he continued to say that he’s sure Epic know what they’re doing.
“You’ve really got to nail something done and build something while you’re on top, and if you don’t, you’re going to be constantly trying to claw back that popularity. I’m pretty sure Epic Games will have learnt that lesson and I certainly hope they put some of that money into a more traditional approach for esports.
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You can watch the full episode below. The segment discussing Fortnite begins at 55 minutes.
