YouTuber Lannan ‘Lazarbeam’ Eacott has long been a big supporter of Fortnite – he even has ‘code lazar’ tattooed on his arm – but the Australian star says he believes “until there’s new content,” the battle royale is all but dead.
Lazarbeam first built his YouTube following by playing Fortnite, and doubled-down on his following alongside Epic’s battle royale with memes about the game, all of which netted him more than 12 million subscribers.
So, of course, much of his fandom has been left a bit confused as the Aussie star uploaded video after video of meme reviews, monthly updates, and ClickCrew skit videos — all with not a single Fortnite gameplay video in sight.
Now, the YouTuber has come clean with his fans about why he hasn’t been playing the battle royale. According to Eacott, who touched on the subject on January 12, a lack of content has left him disappointed with the game’s second chapter.
“People have been asking me about Fortnite… there is absolutely no content in that game, it doesn’t exist,” Lazarbeam admitted, and added that he hoped his thoughts on the dearth of “excitement” didn’t garner him the attention of Tyler ‘Ninja’ Blevins.
“I would love to make Fortnite videos, but there is straight-up nothing. I was trying to film a video the other day and I caught myself thinking ‘Damn, this would have been good, if there were launch-pads in the game’.”
For Lazarbeam, a lack of flowing content is the main reason he feels like Fortnite fans are “attending its funeral,” and admitted there’s only so many times you can drop into the title’s default modes before it gets stale for players and fans alike.
According to the Aussie YouTuber, the best way for Epic to fix this issue would be to bring more “cool items” into the game. As well as making it “a lot more fun for casual players,” interesting items can keep the title fresh for content creators.
“Cool items make such a huge difference, they allow you to expand your content, but if they never add anything how can you think outside the box?” he said.
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“There’s only so far you can stretch it. I still love Fortnite, obviously, I have ‘code lazar’ tattooed on me, but I can’t really do much until there’s content in that game. I want some variety. I want to mix it up. I need something Fortnite.”
Lazarbeam’s wish may be on the horizon, if Epic founder Tim Sweeney’s recent teasers about “more powerful” Fortnite Creative tools are to be believed.
According to the company’s founder and chief executive Sweeney, there’s plenty more to come on the horizon “in the next twelve months,” starting with the introduction of “more powerful” Creative tools to kick-start a new era.
“We’re going to see a future world of games, where users are the primary creators of content,” he explained, and admitted the improved and accelerated social features arriving in the Fortnite Creative mode were also to meet that end.
For now, Lazarbeam fans might have to wait a while before seeing their favorite YouTuber back in the game. Right now, he’s celebrating the ClickCrew’s charity drive for the Australian Bushfires, which saw them raise more than $300,000.
And just because the Aussie star has shelved Fortnite, and his need for his ‘code lazar’ tattoo, right now, doesn’t mean he won’t eventually return. Maybe Chapter 2’s fast-approaching second season will even lure him back in.