"The thing that keeps me motivated is that every day I get to try something new": Fortnite content creator Hew Moran

Fortnite has been the world's most popular battle royale game since its inception. The building aspect of the title, coupled with its countless collaborations, has surely helped maintain its stronghold in the world of battle royale games. However, streamers and content creators have played a critical role in keeping Fortnite at the top, which sometimes goes unnoticed.

Matthew "Hew" Moran is a Fortnite content creator/comedian from the United States. A lifelong gamer, Moran decided to convert his passion into a profession by creating comedy skits for his YouTube channel. While most of his videos are Fortnite-related, the 344k subscriber-strong channel also features a potent catalog of Halo skits.

In conversation with Sportskeeda Esports' Yasho Amonkar, Hew speaks about video ideas that never come to fruition, shares what was going through his mind while uploading his first ever video, and states that he would love to collaborate with Pokimane.

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"Collabs are exactly what is keeping Fortnite alive as they keep bringing fans of other genres into the game": Hew

Q) Fortnite Battle Royale will turn five in a couple of months. Where do you think the game is headed in the next few years?

Hew: It's crazy to think that Fortnite is already five years old. I remember when I was in high school, everyone was playing it. Now, five years later, a lot of people I know are still playing it, and I'm a Fortnite content creator. I think we will see a lot more collabs in the next few years that will keep the game relevant, and I'm super excited to see what they do!

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Q) Your channel features Fortnite and Halo videos to a large extent. Which of these games do you prefer playing? What is your all-time favorite game?

Hew: I currently prefer playing Fortnite over Halo due to Halo Infinite's lackluster launch. But I also fancy Fortnite because it updates every Tuesday, and there is always something new to play or do.

I know this will sound crazy, but my favorite game is actually Pokemon. As a kid, I loved playing the games, and I still love playing them today. The games are timeless.

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Q) The oldest video uploaded on your channel is a Short titled "What Hew Moran does on Friday nights…". While uploading the video, did you think that you would ever reach 340k subscribers and have a total view count approaching the 100 million mark?

Hew: While uploading the video, I had no idea I would ever try to become a YouTuber or even have a single subscriber. It was just a random video of my friend and I walking through 7-Eleven at like 12 AM, messing around making a video for our friends and the five people who watched me on Twitch at the time. It's crazy how far the channel has come since then.

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Q) The "Fortnite Stereotypes" series on your channel is my personal favorite. What sort of a Fortnite player would you call yourself if you had to pick from one of those stereotypes? Is the fourth part of that series in the pipeline?

Hew: Oh my god, I haven't thought about that series in almost a year now. I love those videos. I definitely have to classify myself as the excuse guy. I always make up the dumbest excuses when I die. Maybe for you, I'll make a part 4 soon, but it wasn't in the pipeline or planned.

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Q) Getting a satisfactory amount of views is never in the creator's control. A YouTuber might have high expectations from a particular video, but the outcome could be below par. How do you react when such a situation takes place?

Hew: Yeah, this is an issue sometimes when we put a few days into making a video, and then it flops. Usually, I'm a little upset, but I just focus on making the next video.

I don't usually have time to keep checking stats because we upload on the main skit channel three times a week and are currently working on uploading at least once a week on the vlog channel. So usually, I concentrate on the next project and make it as good as possible.

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Q) As a comedian, much of your time is likely spent brainstorming ideas for new sketches. There's a chance that you initially feel a specific idea would make for a good video, but it never materializes, and you end up scrapping the video altogether. How often does this sort of thing happen?

Hew: This is a great question. I hear it a lot. I usually spend an hour a day brainstorming ideas and only get one good one. When I first started making skits, it was a lot easier to grab my sister and a cell phone and record. So many skits were made, but not many were released because after editing them, I was like, "yo, this sucks".

Making a skit now requires like three people on set and a lot more money, so many videos are scrapped at the idea part of the pipeline. I try to avoid creating content that I don't release, but there are probably two or three skits recorded/edited that I scrap a month still.

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Q) Chapter 3 Season 3 is going to start soon. What are your expectations from the upcoming season? For some loopers, it is the storyline, while for others, it is the cosmetics. What is the aspect of the game that enthralls you the most?

Hew: I know this is a controversial thing to say, but I love the collabs. I'm hearing rumors that Darth Vader is in the upcoming Battle Pass, so I'm hoping we see Star Wars-related things on the map to interact with or use. The thing I want the most is the lightsaber pickaxes, but I know that can't happen because they have lightsaber weapons.

Note: This interview was conducted prior to the launch of Chapter 3 Season 3.

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Q) Who were your favorite YouTubers while growing up; did you draw inspiration from any of them when starting with your own channel? If you could collaborate with any Fortnite content creator, who would it be and why?

Hew: My favorite YouTubers growing up were Rhett and Link, Pewdiepie, and Bo Burnham. I think they rubbed off on my content a little bit because their YouTube videos were always comedy-based, no matter what they were doing.

I try to do the same. No matter how tame something we do, like "Running on a treadmill until I win a game of Fortnite", I try to make it as fun and funny as possible for the viewers.

Also, the creator I would love to collaborate with is Pokimane because I need a wife - end of question.

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Q) Do you reckon Fortnite would have been able to sustain for such a long time had it not been for their numerous collaborations? Which is your favorite collab in the game?

Hew: I think the collabs are exactly what is keeping Fortnite alive. They are awesome and keep bringing fans from different things back to Fortnite or allowing fans of these various things into Fortnite for the first time. My favorite collab right now is Moon Knight because I love the TV show, but it's constantly changing.

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Q) From getting your channel monetized in 2020 to hitting 300k subscribers at the end of 2021, your journey has been nothing but inspiring. How would you describe your YouTube career so far, and could you reveal what keeps you motivated to keep making videos?

Hew: It has been a humbling experience, and I honestly never thought it would happen, so I'm honestly still mind blown every day that I get to wake up and make fun videos as my job.

The thing that keeps me motivated is that every day I get to try something new. I get to run around in public, having fun while recording and making videos that people enjoy.