Dr. Disrespect Has Some Harsh Words For Fortnite: Chapter 2
As you may have gleaned from his name, Dr Disrespect isn't exactly a respectful person. More specifically, this bombastic character streamer has no respect for Fortnite or its developers. Even as every other streamer seems to have jumped on the Fortnite: Chapter 2 hype train, the Doc believes that Fortnite is on its way out.
During an Oct. 15th stream, Dr Disrespect watched a leaked trailer for Chapter 2's Battle Pass. In it, new features like boats, swimming, fishing, and fireman carrying your friends were shown off. These additions gave some die-hard players conniptions of excitement, but they failed to move the Doc.
"The game is going to die," he said. "It is, trust me. It's already been dying. I don't know if you saw the numbers towards the end of Fortnite Season 1. This is not enough to revive it to the glory days, if you will. I mean, it's literally on its way down. Trust me."
Do we trust him? Is Fortnite dying? What are those numbers?
In 2017, Fortnite stormed out of the gate as a huge success, pulling in 30 million players by the end of the year. Today, Fortnite boasts around 250 million global players, and as a result, is making even more money. Before the huge Chapter 2 update, Fortnite had earned about $770,000 via Apple's App Store. After Chapter 2? $1.8 million. Keep in mind: these big paychecks come from a free-to-play game.
Later, when Dr Disrespect gave Chapter 2 a go himself, he said, "I just have a feeling that this game isn't going to last much longer, man. This is terrible. I'm happy. Reason why I'm happy, these demonic kids will turn back normal. Developers, the red glare over their eyes looking into a flame of hell... that will dissipate and we'll start getting back to developing high end shooter games."
Dr Disrespect seemed to be one of the only people unimpressed with the update. Reviews have said that this is the update that Fortnite needed: a breath of fresh air that will revive the game and once again capture the attention of the player base. The trending hashtags even caught the attention of those outside of the gaming community, like Lady Gaga and her now infamous "what's fortnight" tweet.
Attacking Fortnite has been part of Dr Disrespect's disrespectful brand, though. Earlier this month, he talked about how Fortnite was an overrated game that ruined kids, saying, "It's making kids demonic. This game is turning kids into demons that don't listen to their parents. They're going to be little robots when they're 30 years old with no social skills, nothing."
Fortnite is no stranger to controversy, especially because of its appeal with the younger crowd. Parents have been comparing the game to cocaine because of its addictive nature. Not only that, Fortnite has been blamed for deteriorating marriages and failing grades. Even with these scandals, Fortnite's popularity has yet to fade.
So why would the Doc make such an inflammatory statement?
Dr Disrespect is, first and foremost, a character streamer. The man behind the mustache is Guy Beahm, who formulated a villainous, arrogant, over-the-top personality that was eventually dubbed Dr Disrespect. For the character, he dons a mullet wig, reflective red sunglasses, a bulletproof vest, and a caustic attitude that both repels and attracts. He has a massive Twitch subscriber base and 3 million-some followers on the platform.
Like Fortnite, the Doc has also had his fair share of controversy. In 2017, he took a break from streaming following an on-stream confession of infidelity. And more recently, he came under fire for live streaming from a TwitchCon bathroom, which earned him a temporary ban. His arrogant, dare we say, disrespectful personality has been at the center of various beefs, and some have questioned where the Doc ends and where Guy Beahm begins. Does Beahm really think Fortnite will meet an untimely end? Or is that just the Doc talking?
We're not sure. What we do know, however, is that there is very little evidence to back up Dr Disrespect's claim that Fortnite is dying, or even that the game is suffering in any way at all. Fortnite remains one of the most-streamed games on Twitch, and it should be noted that not even Dr Disrespect has abandoned the game. He still plays it, often as part of his Triple Threat Challenge (in which he plays and tries to win solos in three battle royale games). While the Doc prefers more serious shooters, even he can't entirely ignore the appeal of Epic Games' greatest hit.
We'll be sure to report back should the Doc have any more to say about Fortnite's chances at survival.