The Rebirth Of Fortnite

The Rebirth Of Fortnite

Revealed in 2011, Epic Games' Fortnite was a passion project for many of its core developers, which included Gears of War creator Cliff Bleszinski. As a Horde-mode zombie-shooter with a focus on base building, Fortnite was primarily about surviving against increasingly challenging waves of enemies. With co-op play in mind, the original mode--now known as Save The World--took players across several maps leveling up their characters and acquiring new loot. Though the developers were excited about its potential, the development of the game was rather troubled, with the team having issues nailing the core gameplay and mechanics. After several years of retooling and refining its gameplay systems, Fortnite was released in early access on July 25, 2017 for PC, PS4, and Xbox One.

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The timing of Fortnite's launch coincided with the growing popularity of PUBG, which the developers were also playing at the time. During a GDC 2018 talk about their unorthodox approach to launching the game, Ed Zobrist--head of publishing for Epic Games--stated that they quickly wanted to come up with an alternate mode to complement Fortnite's main campaign. By shifting Unreal Tournament's development team to focus on Fortnite: Battle Royale, they were able to release the new game mode on September 26, 2017--two months after the base game's early access launch. To offer the game to as many players as they could, the new mode was free-to-play, while the PVE content was only playable by purchasing the base package of the game for early access--which will eventually be available for free to all players once it leaves early access. This decision would go on to change Fortnite in a drastic way.

In Fortnite: Battle Royale, the general pace is quicker, and with a smaller map, engagements with other players are quite common. Featuring a more stylized design and aesthetic, the general feel and shooting mechanics are more arcade-like when compared to PUBG's realistic shooting-style, in keeping with its roots in military-style action games. Instead of a cargo plane, players are brought to the island by a flying party bus, with music thumping in the background as players descend onto the island. From here, players can get into the same sorts of engagement you'd expect from battle royale games. However, the big difference between Fortnite and PUBG is the inclusion of the building mechanic.