So your kid sucks at Fortnite. As a parent, you have two options: let them suffer the social consequences of being terrible at the world's hottest video game, or … pay for a Fortnite coach to teach your kid how to last longer than two minutes without dying in the battle royale.
According to The Wall Street Journal, some parents are opting for the latter option. The newspaper talked to one parent who paid $50 for four hours of online lessons for their 10-year-old son and another who shells out around $120 for six hours of Fortnite tutoring per month for their 12-year-old son. A third parent purchased three hours of lessons for their 10-year-old son for $45 and plans to buy more.
"There's pressure not to just play it but to be really good at it," one such parent from Winchester, England, told the Journal. "You can imagine what that was like for him at school."
While some parents balk at the idea, a Fortnite tutor might actually wind up being a good investment, considering there's now $100 million up for grabs in Fortnite tournament prizes, and one college in Ohio is even now offering a Fortnite scholarship.
Fortnite, for the uninitiated, is a free-to-play PC game that takes heavy inspiration from Player Unknown's Battlegrounds, another title in the battle royale genre. Fortnite earned a "good" rating in PCMag's review; Junior Analyst Ben Moore likes its bright, fun graphics, novel construction mechanics, fast matchmaking, and accessible gameplay, but laments its inaccurate shooting mechanics, convoluted microtransactions, and annoying community.
"If you are looking to scratch a battle royale itch, Fortnite's free-to-play structure and light-hearted graphics should appeal to streamers and solo players alike," Moore wrote.