What Is Fortnite Battle Royale and Why Is It So Popular?

(Last Updated On: May 22, 2018)

What Is Fortnite Battle Royale?

What is Fortnite Battle Royale?

You don’t have to be a heavy gamer to have heard of Fortnite Battle Royale these days. Perhaps it’s because rapper Drake has been playing the game on the streaming platform Twitch, shattering viewership records and giving it some mainstream crossover appeal. Or maybe you’ve heard the recent stories about how the mobile version of the game is so entertaining, it’s making some classrooms difficult places to learn. Either way, Fortnite Battle Royale is the gaming hotness of the moment, but what exactly is the hubbub about? Let’s take a closer look.

Fortnite Explained

In 2011, Epic Games, the makers of the iconic Gears of War series, excited gamers with the announcement of their upcoming project, a co-op survival game called Fortnite. The game went through years of development, with a paid early-access version of the game released on July 25, 2017.

In the world of Fortnite, a sudden storm causes 98% of the world’s population to disappear. In the aftermath, zombie-like creatures appear to attack the few survivors. In Save The World mode, players must work to build bases and kill the zombies. However, it is the Fortnite Battle Royale mode that has got people really talking.

Before the release of Fortnite, Epic Games noticed another game, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, was attracting lots of attention. Battlegrounds saw rapid growth early on, and helped popularize the battle royale genre. Epic Games saw an opportunity to create their own battle royale mode out of Fortnite, eventually launching Fortnite Battle Royale mode within Fortnite. However, after adding this new game mode, they decided to make it a standalone, free-to-play game called Fortnite Battle Royale. This was released in September, 2017, and is supported by microtransactions within the game.

The Rise of Fortnite Battle Royale

Fortnite Battle Royale strips away the storyline and goes full bore with the action, dropping 100 players against each other on a large island. The goal for the players is to stay alive as they try to kill each other with various scavenged items and weapons.

Despite being free, there is a robust set of modes. Solo is the 100-player deathmatch that we mentioned earlier. There are also duo and squad formats. Duo pairs you with a friend or random partner (Drake, maybe?), and allows you to take on 49 other pairs. Squad ups the ante to groups of 5.

Sound interesting? All you have to do is download it for an appropriate platform. Have fun, and with the game’s newfound popularity, one can only wonder what Epic Games has in store next.

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