Fortnite is an electronic game in which multiple players battle online. The game is a third-person shooter, a type of game in which the player’s character appears on screen and the action involves firefights. In addition to fighting, the game allows players to collect resources and build fortifications to defend themselves. Multiplayer online shooter games can be gritty, serious, and violent. Fortnite stands out for its softer tone, silly sense of humor, and cheerful graphics. The game is free to play, with upgrades available for purchase.
Fortnite can be played on a variety of devices, including personal computers, video game consoles, and mobile phones. It was developed by the company Epic Games—headquartered in Cary (near Raleigh), North Carolina—and released in 2017. In its first year after release, the game registered more than 125 million players. Fortnite also became popular with spectators and has been featured in electronic sports, also known as e-sports, competitions.
Objects and structures in the world of Fortnite can be broken down or looted for resources. Players collect wood, stone, and metal to build structures such as walls and ramps. They can gather other materials to craft weapons and other items. Players can have their characters wear costumes, wield humorous equipment, and perform lively dances. Fortnite is also known for its changing game world, which includes such large-scale events as the fall of a comet.
Various game modes are available in Fortnite. Each mode offers players a different objective and set of rules. Some game modes are competitive, and others are creative. In Fortnite Battle Royale, the most popular game mode by far, up to 100 players compete in a single, massive match. Their characters are dropped from a flying bus into a virtual landscape, each equipped with a glider and pickaxe. Once they land, they collect weapons and other resources to battle one another. As the match goes on, its boundaries shrink, forcing players closer and closer together. Players can cooperate to gain an advantage. The last character standing at the end of the match is the winner. Battle Royale has several variations, including ranked modes, in which players are assigned a ranking based on their skill in the game. Their rank increases or decreases depending on how well they perform in each match.
In Fortnite Creative mode, players design their own maps (areas of gameplay). Players may build unique maps for competitive play, or they may design challenges, obstacle courses, or puzzles. Players can publish their maps to make them available for other Fortnite players to explore. In 2023, Epic Games estimated that several hundred player-created maps were published in Fortnite each day.
Other game modes include Fortnite: Save the World, a cooperative survival game; Party Royale, built around socializing with other players; Rocket Racing, an automobile racing game; LEGO Fortnite, in which characters and objects are styled to look as if they are made of LEGO toy parts; and Fortnite Festival, a music and rhythm game in which players perform songs. In addition, Epic Games has introduced various game modes that are available to players for only a limited time.
Tournaments and competitions take place regularly in Fortnite. In 2019, Epic Games hosted a Fortnite World Cup. The 100 best players in the game competed against each other for the chance to win a $3-million top prize. The American Fortnite player Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf won the main event. In total, $30 million in prize money was awarded over the course of the three-day competition.
Fortnite is popular among children and teenagers. In the early 2020’s, Epic Games drew criticism for purposefully marketing the game to children without taking required online safety precautions. In some cases, the company’s actions violated online privacy laws. For example, the company illegally collected personal information from Fortnite players under the age of 13 without a parent’s consent. The United States Federal Trade Commission (FTC) also claimed Epic intentionally designed certain features of Fortnite to cause players to make unwanted purchases. Children could easily make purchases without their parents’ knowledge. For these practices, the FTC fined Epic Games a total of $520 million in 2022 and 2023. The FTC also required Epic to build stricter default privacy settings into Fortnite.
Some technology enthusiasts believe Fortnite is an early example of a metaverse. A metaverse is a proposed virtual universe that immerses users in virtual surroundings. Experts generally do not consider Fortnite to be a true metaverse, but many agree that the game’s publishers could potentially develop a metaverse based around Fortnite. Like a metaverse, Fortnite offers players a wide variety of virtual activities, including activities not typically offered in games. For example, Fortnite has hosted live virtual concerts performed by such popular artists as the American electronic musician Marshmello and the American pop singer Aria na Grande. In addition, a metaverse would offer a vast range of virtual locations for users to visit, much like the player-created maps in Fortnite. But Fortnite lacks other important characteristics of a metaverse, such as a large-scale virtual economy.
