Patrick Mahomes, quarterback for the Kansas City Chiefs, played Fortnite for the first time in a while and he was killed by another user wearing his own uniform.
Fortnite is one of the most popular games in the zeitgeist right now, with 83 million monthly users. It’s so popular that the NFL introduced “skins” last week, allowing players to dress their avatars in licensed NFL uniforms and choose a player number. But the partnership appears to have turned sour,
Mahomes Murked
Patrick Mahomes, the leading passer in the NFL, and his teammates were practicing in Colorado to prepare for an upcoming game against the Rams in Mexico City, which has since been cancelled due to poor field conditions and relocated to Los Angeles.
During his downtime in Colorado, Mahomes relaxed with Fortnite. Inactive for a brief period of time, Mahomes was unaware of the recent addition of NFL uniforms to the Battle Royale store.
Mahomes tweeted about his exit moments after it happened, “Someone killed me with my jersey on.”
In case you were wondering, here’s what the Mahomes #15 looks like.
Although the identity of the culprit who knocked out Patrick Mahomes is still unknown, many people took to the internet to claim they were the one.
Even Chiefs teammate Tyreek Hill, a.k.a. Cheetah, suggested he was the one behind the Mahomes murking.
NFL Skins
Last week, the NFL and Epic Games announced a partnership where users can use NFL uniforms to dress their Fortnite avatars. Skins were created for all 32 NFL teams, which are currently available in the Battle Royale Item Shop for approximately 1,500 V-Bucks (or approximately $15 USD).
Starting Nov. 9, users had the opportunity to purchase uniform skins and select their favorite player’s number from 1 to 99. These specific NFL team outfits were customized for both male and female figures.
The NFL released a statement: “This unique opportunity will give players the ability to purchase and customize up to eight outfits representing their favorite NFL teams. In addition to NFL team outfits, there will be football-themed emotes, harvesting tools, gliders, and even a referee outfit, so players can bring their passion for football into Fortnite.”
The Mahomes incident happened only five days after the release of NFL skins.
Rise of Fortnite
Fortnite is fast-paced, real-time battle royale game with the goal being the last person standing after being dropped onto an island with 100 other players.
Created by Epic Games, Fortnite first appeared in the summer of 2017 and it appears on all gaming platforms. The mobile phone version was released earlier this year and quickly became the top downloaded app for both iOS and Android.
Fortnite streamers on Twitch became rockstars overnight, such as Tyler “Ninja” Blevins, who rose to fame due to his prowess in the game.
In September, Epic Games noted that Fortnite had 78.3 million monthly players during the month of August. That’s up from 40 million users reported six months earlier. Fortnite is not available in China. If it were, it could easily surprise Minecraft or League of Legends as the most popular video games on the planet.
According to Epic’s own development blog, Fortnite reached 8.3 million concurrent players, which is more concurrent players than all of the other games combined on the Steam platform.
That means at any given time, there will be more than 8 million users logged into Fortnite. The majority of Steam traffic is driven by Fortnite. In comparison to other battle royale games, Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds (PUBG) has approximately 800,000 concurrent players.
Someone Had to Ruin a Good Time with OJ
Gamers have twisted senses of humor. It did not take long before users trolled former NFL players who had brushes with the law or incidents with violence.
On Monday, the NFL pulled skins from Battle Royale store when they became aware of some users portraying former NFL players in a negative light, such as Plaxico Burress, Michael Vick, OJ Simpson, and Aaron Hernandez.
Users who had the opportunity to purchase skins will be able to keep them, but there’s no word on whether the NFL will reissue uniforms in the future.
NHL Bans Fortnite
Although the NFL is cool with their players engaging on Fortnite, professional hockey players have a different stance. During the preseason, the Vancouver Canucks banned Fortnite from the locker room. Veteran players felt the battle royale craze negatively affected the team’s performance.
Vets such as forward Bo Horvat felt younger players on the Canucks roster were staying up late nights playing the game instead of resting. Or they were messing around in the lockerroom instead of prepping for a game.
“I wouldn’t mind a ban,” Jake Gardiner of the Toronto Maple Leafs said. “Video games get out of control.”