Fortnite started out as one kind of game, but then, via the free download of its Battle Royale game, it became something else entirely. In fact, it’s one of the few games that is openly challenging PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds for the title of best Battle Royale game. And you might be surprised by how close this fight is getting. For as Eurogamer reports in an interview with Epic Games, the title has over 40 million players and even crossed 2 million playing concurrently. That’s a lot, and it definitely matches PUBG.
What led to this success? Well, the free download helped of course, but also, the game is on three systems, in full. This includes the PS4 (which doesn’t have PUBG at present) and the Xbox One (which only has PUBG in “preview” mode). So, there’s a lot of people wanting to play this kind of game, but can’t. And Epic Games sees the potential in this:
“To put it in context,” lead systems designer Eric Williamson notes, “some of the folk around the office are saying hey, we could be the biggest Battle Royale game in the western world, which is crazy.
That is crazy, or at least, it’s crazy in the context of where they started to where they are now. But what makes Fortnite a strong competitor is that they’re also working hard on upgrading the game, including overhauling the map via a special update. This “overhaul” will make it so that the map itself is more detailed, and more realistic in terms of where you are terrain wise.
This is due in part to Level Streaming:
“Level streaming is technology which uncaps us to be able to increase the variety and quality of the localised area you’re in at any given time. It’s great technology that is useful in Battle Royale but also in all of our Unreal Engine licensees.”
Good to know, and this will no doubt please players when it releases.