SypherPK is one of the biggest Fortnite streamers in the world. Right from his Runescape days, his rise to the top as one of the best content creators in the world has been meteoric. Not only is his content around Fortnite extremely consistent, but it has also changed the way people perceive the game. At this point, it would be safe to call him the “Face of Fortnite” too.
We had the amazing opportunity to interview Sypher, thanks to Klarna’s “Playing For Keeps” event. Sypher keeps it real as he talks about Fortnite, his love for content creation, and his choice between the PlayStation 5 and the Xbox Series X. Take a look at how the conversation unfolded, below.
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SypherPK x EssentiallySports
You are one of the biggest Fortnite creators in the world and have been consistent with your content around the game. What motivated /inspired you to stick to the game over the years?
“You know, I feel like I have a track record of, you know, obsessing over certain games and sticking with them for a very long time. Before Fortnite, I played Runescape for almost 10 years. And then, I played Elder Scrolls Online for three years, and I made a lot of content around the game. I typically like to master a game and create a tonne of content around it, and be the guy that people go to when they need to know something about the game. I’ve kind of done the same thing with Fortnite. So it’s something I’m very good at, is understanding the game on a deep level, and being able to make content to let people know what’s going on, to update them and it’s been pretty successful. So I’m really good at it. And I’m planning to stick to it. Yeah, there’s no doubt about you being good at Fortnite.”
Of course, you being a PC player would prefer that over the consoles but given a choice, which one would you pick: PlayStation 5 or Xbox Series X?
“The PS5 or the new Xbox? You know, I’ve always been an Xbox guy, because of the Halo series being exclusive to Xbox. And I feel like I would have to stick to my roots. I’m I grew up playing on the Xbox 360 and I loved Halo. And you know, I’m looking forward to that new Halo game that’s coming out. And I know it’s not going to be on ps4. So I’ll have to go with Xbox.”
Alex Hutchinson (creative director Stadia) recently made a comment saying ‘streamers should play game companies’. Obviously, this created quite an uproar in the community. What is your take on it?
“Yeah, so I saw that tweet it caused quite a storm. I don’t think he has the right perspective. Because we’ve seen games just this year, we’ve seen games like Fall guys and Among Us, rise to the top and become extremely successful mainly due in part to content creators playing those games. There’s a huge value that those content creators bring, especially to newer games. Now, you can argue with games like Fortnite. Maybe now Fortnite isn’t completely in need of all the content creators playing it, maybe the benefit isn’t as lucrative for Fortnite.
But even Fortnite has, you know, the creator code program, and they share the revenue stream with the content creators, who you know, promote the item shop and their viewers purchasing from the item shop. Even Fortnite is sharing that revenue stream. So even the most successful game, one of the most popular games in the world understands the value that content creators bring. So we’ve seen big games and small games, see that value and understand it. I think his perspective is wrong. The music side of things is a completely different story. But I think comparing it to the gaming side is not the right move.”
What are your thoughts on Dr Disrespect’s Twitch ban and Twitch’s rule that does not allow you to stream with him?
“Well, those are just the terms of service. So if someone’s banned, you know, Twitch has the right to not allow people to play with that person. And since we don’t really know what’s going on behind the scenes, it’s hard to comment on it.”
Tell me something about your collaboration with Klarna. How exciting or scary is it to be giving away a part of your own setup to someone. Like, are you excited to know who can beat you?
“Yeah, so, you know, whatever we’re doing a show like this it can be a little nerve-racking because I’m not in my usual environment. I’m somebody who is very comfortable streaming from home and that’s my day to day routine. So, to put me in a different situation, to go against my viewers, it’s going to be exciting, it’s going to be thrilling. I’m sure that somebody can beat me. And I’m sure that, you know, Klarna is gonna try to make sure that I have a challenge ahead of me with some of the stuff they’re going to be doing on the show to kind of distract me and potentially let one of the viewers win. But I’m going to try my best to put up a good fight before somebody takes my rig.”
A lot of people are suggesting that Fortnite is a dying game. Do you believe that?
“Oh, no, not at all. So Fortnite is still one of the most popular games, one of the most-watched games in the world. I think what’s happening is, you know, some groups of people might be leaving Fortnite. And if you’re in that group, you know, your friends might have stopped playing and your perspective, the game is dying. But for every person was leaving there, many people still play the game, but many new people who join the game, every single day. A lot of that just comes down to perspective. There’s so many popular games that people claim has been dying for years, and they’re still around. You know, if you personally do not enjoy the game anymore, you might feel it that it’s dying. But the reality is, it’s not even close. The game is still very successful and the numbers show it.”
What are your thoughts on Fortnite Casual & Competitive? The way Epic is shaping things, you think it is more casual-friendly at the moment?
“It’s definitely more casual, friendly and actually, this is one of the first times I’ve seen them make a very strong distinction between Epic – competitive and casual. You know, in the past, everything that was in the game was on both casual and competitive. And now they’re doing a good job of putting things up. And some things are in competitive only, and some items are in casual only. This is creating for a very balanced and good system.”
The hottest topic right now is Skill Based Matchmaking. What are your thoughts on that? Should it exist in games or does it need an extreme makeover?
“So Skill Based Matchmaking can definitely be very frustrating, especially for people who stream games. Because a lot of the time when you’re streaming, you’re good enough to be among the top players. But maybe when you’re streaming, you’re in a different situation, you’re not good enough to always play against the top players, and it can be exhausting to stream for eight hours, and you’re only going against really good players. However, Skill Based Matchmaking, I understand from a business side and from a casual side, it is necessary.
Sometimes it’s overdone, but one thing I’ve noticed, in regards to Fortnite is they’ve constantly been making changes on the backend for Skill Based Matchmaking. Even though they haven’t publicly said that. I can tell from my own gaming, that in the past, the skill-based matchmaking fortnight used to be extremely strict. And I would only go against players who were really good. Now it’s like a good mix. So there is skill-based matchmaking, but it’s not as punishing for players who are above average. So I think there’s a healthy balance i think i think it needs to exist. I think there’s a healthy balance and a lot of game companies are still trying to find to please both sides.”
Which is that one feature you would want to bring back to Fortnite permanently?
“Probably the siphon ability in all game modes. Basically, if you eliminate a player, I mean in competitive right now if you eliminate a player, you get a certain amount of health back. And the player you eliminated cops an extra, you know, 50 wood, brick, and metal. They used to have that in all the modes and then they removed it because a lot of really good players were beating up a lot of the new players with siphon it was making it easier. But now that we have skill-based, I think they should reconsider bringing back siphon to all the game modes.”
Also Read: Watch: SypherPK Slams and Reports Trio for Griefing in Fortnite
Season 4 is obviously one of the better seasons that we have seen recently, considering the whole Marvel aspect. Do you have any theories on the finale? Like what happens when Galactus finally gets here?
“Yeah, so Fortnite has always been trying to make the story a little bit unpredictable. They’re trying to, you know, throw curveballs, no one really expected the entire map to get sucked into a black hole and we have a brand new map. I have a theory that Galactus is not going to immediately be defeated by the Marvel heroes. I have a feeling that he is going to come and he is going to initially win. Similar to Thanos from Endgame. He initially succeeded. He got all the six Infinity Stones, he wiped out half the population. I have a feeling that the story is going to be somewhat similar, that Galactus will initially succeed in his attack, or in his like, goal, whatever goals he has in mind, and then we’re gonna have another season, where we have to reverse what he did or make a comeback and defeat him again.”
Yes, you already have mentioned that this Marvel season is going to pan out over two seasons. So yeah, that actually could be true
“Yeah, actually, Donald Mustard, the creative director (for Fortnite), he was on a podcast recently. And he mentioned that the story that they’re building still has years before it’s done. So the story has been going on for three years, leading up to now, the Marvel collaboration. But he says that the story in itself still has a few more years before it’s complete.”
Which is that one next-gen game that you’re extremely excited about, which you would want to play off-stream?
“It’s either it’s either gonna be the Cyberpunk 2077 or the upcoming new installment to Halo, Halo Infinite. Yeah, I have a good feeling you know, Cyberpunk is obviously gonna be a very good single-player game. I’m not really someone who does a lot of single-player, I recently started doing it, it was fun. So I think I have a good feeling Halo infinite hopefully, they bring in a really cool, you know, game that also offers a battle royale because I feel like these days battle royales, that’s what everybody wants to play. So I think Halo infinite has a good shot at shaking things up when it comes out. I’m looking forward to that.”
Who would your favorite content creators be? Who inspired you to take up streaming/content creation?
“So, the people who inspired me to start making content are some of the OG Runescape YouTubers from way back in the day. And those are the guys who really got me into content creation like Chris Archie, Spark Mac, Bodhi (BikiniBodhi), who’s currently a Twitch streamer. So I used to play a lot of Runescape that’s where I got my start. And then, you know, one day I was, you know, going through Twitch, and I tuned into TimTheTatman, he was playing Call of Duty Black Ops. He had 500 viewers, and he had really long hair at the time.
This is before he cut off all his hair. And he was basically telling the chat that he today he quit his job and he’s going to stream full time, and I actually tuned in, right when he made that announcement, many many years ago, and I thought that was really cool. And that, you know, kind of got me to start thinking about streaming. So, as funny as it is, you know, Tim’s a good friend now we’re constantly making jokes, we are constantly yelling at each other. But he was a big inspiration way back in the day, for me to start streaming.”
You gave the fans quite a scare when you suggested the possibility of quitting Fortnite to stream Warzone. What are your thoughts on the future of both these games?
“So I want I wanted to take a small break from Fortnite, because we were, you know, playing for such a long time. And I think the time when I announced that I was going to start playing Warzone was before season 4, or before season 3. So things were pretty dry on Fortnite, and I really wanted a change of pace. So I started playing Warzone. And then once the new season came out, I kind of started getting back into Fortnite. And that might happen in the future, you know, if Fortnite updates slow down, I’ll always try other games and kind of diversify even more than before. But I’ll always play and like Fortnite, as long as I still enjoy it, you know, I’ll make content for it, even if I take small breaks here, and there.
Warzone also has a bright future. You know, there’s a little bit of question about their installment of Cold War, you know, they’re gonna pass on the franchise to the new Call of Duty developer, and they’re going to transfer Warzone into Cold War. That is a, you know, people are a little bit worried about that, because they’re worried that this really good thing that Warzone is, could potentially be ruined. But if they pull off a good transition and Cold War’s a success, Warzone will continue to be extremely popular, for years to come.”
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How has the global pandemic affected you? How has the process of content creation changed in such a testing time for you? Did you have any difficulties with it early on?
“Yeah, so, the process has stayed the same. You know, we’re still streaming every day and making content. I think, one of the biggest challenges has been disconnecting, actually. Because I’m always I’m always live, I’m always thinking about YouTube. And before the pandemic, you know, I used to, you know, schedule dinners with the wife, we used to go to the dog park, go to our favorite movie theatre and watch a movie. All these things would kind of allow me to disconnect from the content grind that I’m on. And for a while, especially when the lockdown first started, it was very tough, because there was never a chance for me to really stop thinking about the content or stop thinking about the YouTube channel or the stream.
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So we have to get creative about different ways for me to really wind down and reset. And there’s been times where, you know, it has been overwhelming and I just feel burnt out from the concentration, especially because there hasn’t been a lot of opportunities to really take a step back and do something else that I enjoy, due to the pandemic.“
That was SypherPK just doing what he does best. He is all set to compete against his fans who will try to beat him and win a part of his setup. The Klarna “Playing For Keeps” event is scheduled to take place on October 27 & October 29. You can tune in live to SypherPK’s Twitch channel here.
