The world’s most popular video game was developed in Cary, North Carolina. Here’s how.

I am Brian GordonTech Reporter for The News & Observer, and this is Open Source, a weekly newsletter about business, work and technology in North Carolina.

Fortnite happened very slowly, then suddenly. And it almost didn’t happen.

The irreverent video game that pits players against 99 others in an animated battle for survival is now 7 years old. Along with perhaps Red Hat Enterprise Linux, Fortnite is the most widely used technology to emerge from the Research Triangle. It is certainly one of the most entertaining.

I wanted to tell the story of how an idea came about at Cary’s headquarters Epic games became a video game with more than 800 million player accounts. Fortnite has popularized dance moves, pioneered IP crossovers, monopolized countless hours of (mostly young) people’s lives, and made a handful of Epic employees incredibly rich. It was originally called Fortress, a core concept from a developer’s sketchbook. Several near-rejections followed.

Epic Games developed Fortnite over more than five years – and then quickly redesigned it within a few fateful weeks. It took over the gaming world at the end of 2017 and has not yet fully released its grip. Now Fortnite is the portal to Epic CEO Tim Sweeney’s Metaverse ambitions, a reality that both inspires and confuses former employees.

Ultimately, this four-part series is about the Triangle company behind Fortnite – its history, its founder and its future. The layout for each section is different, a dynamic format with moving avatars and vibrant displays. Many thanks to our visualization team. And thank you to the many former Epic employees who shared their stories.

In a fraction of the time

Wolfspeed needed funding and got it in a big way this week. The Durham-based semiconductor company announced a tentative agreement with the U.S. Department of Commerce for a $750 million CHIPS Act grant. Along with this award, Wolfspeed also secured a $750 million loan from a consortium of investment firms.

This $1.5 billion will support the company’s expansion in Chatham Countywhere the company has begun producing silicon carbide at its massive new multi-billion dollar factory.

Investors have reacted quite negatively to the company, sending the stock price soaring to under $10 in recent weeks from over $100 two years ago. Given the production delays and the growth of competitors, there were liquidity concerns. A prominent activist investor is lurking. At least Wall Street welcomed the latest CHIPS news; Wolfspeed stock rose 60% for the week to more than $16 per share.

“The (CHIPS) grant will help us produce 200-millimeter silicon carbide crystals and process those crystals into wafers and then process wafers into semiconductor chips,” says Wolfspeed CEO Greg Lowe said in a telephone interview Monday.

Wolfspeed believes it can regain investor confidence. CHIPS dollars are a strong, if not unexpected, start.

“We know that one area of ​​concern for investors is our liquidity and capital structure, as well as our ability to fund our long-term strategic plan,” Tyler Gronbach, head of investor relations at Wolfspeed, said in an email last month, adding said the company will consider “additional potential areas to reduce costs and improve profitability in all aspects of the business.”

Clear my cache

• Pink and profitable. I caught up Pendo CEO Todd Olson talks “founder mode,” going public, his unicorn software company’s first win, and why the two letters investors care about most right now are A and I.

• Build houses out of grass. On Wednesday I visited the Granville County headquarters Plantda fast-growing startup that processes 20-foot-tall perennial grass into wood panels for new homes. Founded in 2021 by two SpaceX graduates, the company employs 120 people and is based in a former tobacco factory. And it just signed an agreement with HR Horton, the largest U.S. homebuilder, to supply 10 million home panels.

• MetaFacebook’s parent company confirmed layoffs this week. Some cuts affected Meta’s virtual reality and augmented reality division Reality Labs, The Verge reported. Reality labs has offices in Durham, and in early 2023 Meta confirmed that it has an office at the American Tobacco Campus, where it plans to eventually employ about 100 engineers.

On Thursday, I reached out to Meta to ask about current plans in Durham — and whether local employees have lost their jobs — but received no response.

National tech happenings

• Amazon is expanding nuclear power in Virginia to support its energy-intensive data centers. This is also why Microsoft and Google have recently switched to nuclear weapons.

• The last big one Kmart in the country is closing. It was a slow death for the major retailer, which once had more than 2,000 stores in the United States.

• Kroger is expanding the use of digital price tags, raising concerns that the grocery chain (of which Harris Teeter is a part) could introduce dynamic pricing based on the time of day and even the specific customer. The company has denied this.

Thanks for reading!

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