Fortnite has become a global phenomenon and is rapidly growing in the e-sports field. With revenue expected to reach $3.5 billion in 2019, it shows no signs of losing its dominance in the battle royale genre.

However, few fans know how Fortnite became the phenomenon it is today. Fortnite’s history begins with Epic Games, but initially it was very different from the game we know and love today. Instead, Fortnite started out as a completely different game of surviving a zombie apocalypse… Somehow.

Fortnite: Save The World

The game was first revealed at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards, where former Epic design director Cliff Bleszinski unveiled a rough trailer for the game. Fortnite: Save the World was originally designed as a cooperative third-person shooter survival game. Rather than competing with each other, players had to work together to save what was left of humanity after 98% of the population was wiped from the world.

Battle Royale Wasn’t The Plan

In 2012, the developers realized that to maintain long-term interest in the game, players needed a system with progression and items, similar to other RPG games. However, funding issues and Epic’s change of direction caused delays. In November 2013, Fortnite was postponed and released in July 2017 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC in Early Access only.

The game failed to convince many critics, which was to be expected given the long development time and the hype surrounding the game. The unimpressive cartoon-style graphics and an incomplete plot that remains unfinished to this day were not convincing. However, players enjoyed the loot system, progression, and building mechanics.

The Battle Royale Beta was then released just six weeks after the paid early access of Save The World. Within two weeks of the release of the Battle Royale version, over 10 million players had signed up, and the number continued to grow.

One of the reasons for the success of Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode can be attributed to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which was extremely popular and had a large player base. However, its price made it inaccessible to some players, and it still suffers from optimization issues that arose in 2017.

It’s obvious that a cross-platform free-to-play game will attract attention, but Epic is one of the first companies to achieve such a huge success.

Introducing The Battle Pass

The Battle Royale Beta was then released just six weeks after the paid early access of Save The World. Within two weeks of the release of the Battle Royale version, over 10 million players had signed up, and the number continued to grow.

One of the reasons for the success of Fortnite’s Battle Royale mode can be attributed to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, which was extremely popular and had a large player base. However, its price made it inaccessible to some players, and it still suffers from optimization issues that arose in 2017.

It’s obvious that a cross-platform free-to-play game will attract attention, but Epic is one of the first companies to achieve such a huge success.

Evolution Of The Island

Fortnite has changed a lot since its release. This applies to weapons, vehicles, and even the island itself, which players can visit with their Party Bus. Some locations have undergone minor redesigns, while others have been destroyed and rebuilt.

Initially, this was a way to balance the game and change where players landed. Too often, a few locations were chosen as the best places to go first, leaving most of the rest of the map blank.

Over time, however, the map changes became tied to the mysterious history surrounding the island. One of the island’s most popular locations, Tilted Towers, was eventually destroyed by a meteorite and later rebuilt as Neo Tilted.

Overall, these changes helped keep the game fresh and interesting. Players who take a short break from Fortnite usually return to a new and unfamiliar part of the map, encouraging them to explore the game all over again.

Here’s a visual look at the seasonal map changes:

What About Save The World?

Since the Battle Royale version of the game was released, Save the World has been largely forgotten. It has had updates and changes over the past two years, but far fewer than the Battle Royale version. It has seasonal events, but most are just reused events from the past.

But this is not surprising. Fortnite was originally planned as a PvE game, but most of its popularity and revenue comes from the Battle Royale mode. Twitch doesn’t have a major Save the World streamer, but everyone knows Ninja and Tfue’s Battle Royale skills.

Meanwhile, playing Save the World, which is a paid game, continually gives you V-Bucks to spend on Battle Royale.

Conclusion

Save The World was the first iteration of the Fortnite we know and love today, and it is fascinating to take a look back at a game that was largely mediocre and see it transform into one of the most popular games in the world. While the Battle Royale genre may become less popular in the future due to oversaturation in the market, there is little doubt that Fortnite will remain the most popular among them.