'Fortnite' Frenzy: Video game looks to China to prolong its fame

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Fighting for survival on a remote island -- that's the premise of the very popular video game Fortnite. It is everywhere. Millions play it. Celebrities tweet about it and stream videos of their games. No wonder it's making hundreds of millions of dollars every month. And it is about to get even bigger, with the Chinese market on the horizon. Phil Lavelle has more.

Pokemon Go Pokemon gone! That's so 2016. Gamers are now onto the NEXT craze.

PHIL LAVELLE LOS ANGELES This fortnight, it's Fortnite. That's the name of the game. Driving players crazy with excitement. Driving profits for its makers through the roof.

"Fortnite is the biggest game that we have seen in years."

Developer, Epic Games - thought to be bringing in more than 200 million dollars A MONTH.

"What's really interesting about this game is it really suits all demographics."

Mike's a Fortnite fanatic. And a video games journalist.

"It's fun for everyone, it's crazy."

Meaning he gets to play it - and get paid for it. That's what you call a double win.

MIKE LENTZ "FORTNITE" FAN PHIL: "Just give us a quick idiot's guide - what is the point in this game?"

MIKE: "The point of Fortnite is to be the last man standing so basically, 100 people will be dropped into a map. You can either play by yourself or with one other friend or up to three others so groups of four and basically, you just want to kill everybody else."

There are a few reasons Fortnite is so popular. Firstly, it's free. The idea is that you pay within the game for extras - BUT you don't have to. Secondly, it's everywhere - on Windows, Mac, PlayStation, XBox, and iOS. Android's coming soon - the world's most-used cellphone OS. When that version launches, watch the profits almost certainly shoot up even more.

TIM O'SHEA, VIDEO GAME ANALYST JEFFERIES INVESTMENT BANKING FIRM "My understanding is that the game is monetizing at roughly a 2 billion dollar a year run-rate. For some perspective, that puts it up there with these major Star Wars movie, box office global worldwide will be 1.5 to 2 billion dollars, so these are big numbers that Fortnite is putting up right now."

Chinese web giant, Tencent, owns 40% of Epic Games. And it's the exclusive publisher in China.

RAY CARSILLO, INDUSTRY EXPERT MACHINIMA ENTERTAINMENT NETWORK PHIL: "How important is the Chinese market to this game's success? "

RAY: "Oh the Chinese market is going to be huge for Fortnite. It's going to be what keeps this game going for years to come. You see it with League of Legends, H1Z1, PUBG. Getting into the Chinese market is what can keep these games thriving years after they're popular here in the States".

And it's not only Epic Games in the money here. Fortnite is making a fortune for some of its fans too. Playing it - literally, a full-time job.

Services like Twitch - allowing players to stream their progress and share tips. It's like watching a movie.

EMMETT SHEAR TWITCH CEO "People can make six figures for sure. And it's, we're starting to see people really start to make a pretty good living, and sometimes a great living, streaming video games."

This player, Ninja, making a dizzying amount out of subscribers, or 'subs', as they're called. This fellow Fortniter with the numbers:

"BOGDANAKH" FORTNITE PLAYER AND TWITCH STREAMER "Ninja I would say, he makes way more than 500k a month. I would say only by subs (subscriptions) he makes at least 500k, it would be over a million by subs and the donations and anything else, sponsorships. It's way, a lot more than you think."

And so, Fortnite's appeal going up - at least for now.

"They had 40 million users, and that was in January. It's going to be much higher today."

But what goes up, must come down. In the world of video games, there's always something else on the way.

"Maybe it'll last six months then dies out. You just never know, there's no way to tell."

Phil Lavelle, CGTN, Los Angeles.