Fortnite

Description

Fortnite is a free-to-play online game platform developed and published by Epic Games. What began as a cooperative survival game in 2017 has evolved into one of the most-played and most-profitable video game ecosystems in history, with multiple different game modes ranging from battle royale and tactical shooting to rhythm games, survival crafting, racing and user-created experiences, and more. Fortnite uses a single common launcher and client, with all the modes using the same cosmetic system, engine and account infrastructure.

The game is developed in Unreal Engine 5 (migrated from UE4 to UE5.1 in December 2022) and is available to play fully cross-platform on PC, consoles, and mobiles. All modes except Save the World are free to download and play. The game generates all of its revenue from cosmetic purchases using V-Bucks, which is virtual currency that is purchased with real money, battle pass subscriptions, and the Fortnite Crew monthly service.

Fortnite has accumulated over 650 million registered accounts since its launch. Monthly active players have exceeded 100 million and the game regularly brings tens of millions of players to its live in-game events. The game has grossed over $26 billion in lifetime gross revenue through in-game purchases alone, with annual revenue estimated to be $5 to $6 billion during the past few years. Epic paid creators more than $352 million through its engagement-based creator economy programs in 2024.

HISTORY

Epic Games announced Fortnite during the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards and worked on the game for several years as a cooperative tower defense and survival game. The original mode, Save the World, was released in early access in July 2017 as a paid title for PC, PlayStation 4 and Xbox One.

Save the World received relatively little interest and by August 2017, more than one million players had joined the game. The same month Epic witnessed the success of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds and quickly developed a battle royale mode in the same assets. Fortnite Battle Royale was released for free on September 26, 2017, and it exploded – over 10 million people had played within 2 weeks of the game’s release. By June 2018 the game had 125 million players.

Revenue from Battle Royale in the first half of 2018 alone ran into the hundreds of millions of dollars per month, with estimated full year 2018 revenue of approximately $5.5 billion. The game was a cultural phenomenon, creating its own dance moves (emotes) which spread into sports and pop culture, attracting celebrity streamers and players, and creating the battle pass as a model for much of the rest of the industry to follow.

Epic introduced Creative mode in December 2018, which gives players the ability to create their own game experiences on their own islands. By late 2023 Epic converted Fortnite into a multi-mode platform with the addition of Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing and Fortnite Festival. Fortnite Ballistic, a five-on-five tactical shooter, was released into early access in December 2024.

In August 2020, Fortnite was removed from Apple and Google’s respective app stores after Epic deliberately bypassed their payment systems to bring antitrust lawsuits against both companies. Fortnite was not available on iOS for nearly five years. Following a court ruling in April 2025 that Apple could not stop third-party storefronts from appearing on the App Store or from charging fees from them, Fortnite was released back to the U.S. iOS App Store on May 20, 2025. Android players can use Epic Games Store to access Fortnite.

BATTLE ROYALE

Battle Royale is the most played mode in Fortnite, and the one that is most responsible for its cultural impact. Up to 100 players — competing solo, in pairs or in squads of four — drop from a Battle Bus onto a large island map, scavenge for weapons and items and fight to be the last person or team standing. A toxic storm shrinks the safe zone throughout the duration of the match, and players who are not dead slowly move closer to each other in an attempt to survive.

The defining characteristic that Fortnite Battle Royale has over other battle royale games is the building system. Players harvest materials — wood, stone and metal — through breaking down objects in the environment, then use those materials to build walls, ramps, floors and roofs in real time during combat. This makes fights a shooting as much as a building contest, with skilled players able to build cover or high ground or entire fortresses on the fly. Building mechanics have evolved significantly over the course of the game’s history and have added features such as sprinting, mantling, sliding, and movement items.

The map of the island changes every few months as the seasons advance, with new named locations added, and other locations removed or altered to suit the narrative theme of the season. Each chapter presents a whole new island, and each season in that chapter develops a story that leads to an epic live in-game event which can be seen by all players at the same time.

Battle Royale is played in Ranked mode, which allows competitive players to progress through tiers of skill and earn exclusive cosmetic rewards. Ranked tracks progress separately from the unranked casual playlists.

ZERO BUILD

Zero Build was released as a permanent playlist in March 2022 and features battle royale’s core game play without the build system. Players are not allowed to build structures, and rely entirely on gunplay, the terrain, and movement abilities. In the place of building, Zero Build gives each player a recharging Overshield for additional protection.

Zero Build reattracted players that had been put off by the skill gap introduced by building at a high level and brought Fortnite to audiences that preferred pure gunplay. Its player numbers rival the building-enabled mode. Zero Build also has a Ranked playlist with it’s own separate progression ladder.

RELOAD

Reload is a variation of Battle Royale that is played on a smaller map with a smaller player count of 40. Players have multiple lives for a limited period of time after being eliminated — as long as at least one of his or her team is still alive, a downed player can respawn after a short countdown. This results in more fast-paced matches with more frequent engagement. Reloads has a rotating pool of loots that is updated regularly in order to keep gameplay varied.

FORTNITE OG

OG launched as a permanent mode in December 2024, and rotates through the original Chapter 1 seasons, starting with Season 1. It utilizes the original Chapter 1 island map (Athena) and traditional weapons and items from each era, but adds modern movement features such as sprinting and mantling that did not exist in the original game. Each OG season lasts for two to three months with its own dedicated battle pass. There is both a normal building version and a Zero Build version.

BLITZ ROYALE

Blitz Royale was a fast-paced smaller scale Battle Royale mode of 32 players introduced in June 2025 for 32 players aiming to complete a full game in less than five minutes. Players start with a randomly assigned medallion and a choice of Mythic level weapons and matches are played on a small map with an accelerated storm. The mode provides a Blitz Level progression system and themed crossover content. Originally intended as a limited time mode, it became permanent due to positive player response.

FORTNITE BALLISTIC

Ballistic is a five-on-five round-based tactical first person shooter game that was released in early access in December 2024. It is the first mode created by Epic in Fortnite with a first-person perspective. One team attacks by planting a Rift Point Device at a predetermined location while the defending team attempts to eliminate the attackers or disarm the device before it goes off. Between rounds, players spend money (currency earned in previous rounds) on weapons, gear and utilities at a buy phase. A Ranked playlist has competitive progress tracked separately from casual matches.

Ballistic is making structural comparisons to Counter-Strike 2 and Valorant and is competing directly with the established tactical FPS genre.

SAVE THE WORLD

Save the World is the original mode of Fortnite and the only one that requires a paid purchase. Up to four players cooperate to complete player versus environment missions, fighting off zombie-like creatures called Husks by building fortifications, setting traps, and using ranged weapons and special abilities. Players build and upgrade bases, manage resources, complete mission goals and advance through a story in various zones.

Save the World is available for Windows, macOS, PS4 and Xbox One. It does not get the same frequency of updates as Battle Royale but is still supported and playable. It is one of the few ways to get V-Bucks through gameplay rather than purchasing them, which makes it useful to players who wish to pay for cosmetic purchases without spending more money.

LEGO FORTNITE

LEGO Fortnite was released in December 2023 as a collaboration between Epic Games and The LEGO Group. It has two sub-modes, Odyssey and Brick Life.

Odyssey is a survival game and crafting game in the mold of Minecraft. Up to eight players share a procedurally generated world, gather resources, build structures and villages, craft tools and weapons, and control hunger and temperature as they explore different biomes including grasslands, deserts, and frozen mountains. Villagers — Lego versions of Fortnite character skins — can be recruited to the player’s settlement and given assignments. The mode is played by progressing through tiers of materials, with each tier unlocking improved tools, structures and more distant parts of the map.

Brick Life is a social life simulation mode set in a LEGO city. Players create characters, get jobs, decorate homes, buy cars and other items, and socialize with other players in a common open world. The mode is more concerned with non-combat social interaction and self-expression rather than survival goals.

Both LEGO modes include LEGO versions of Fortnite cosmetic skins, which means that players who own skins in Battle Royale can have LEGO character versions of those available.

FORTNITE FESTIVAL

Fortnite Festival was released in December of 2023, and was developed by Harmonix – the makers of Rock Band and early Guitar Hero games. It is a rhythm game with three different sub-modes which are available through the Fortnite launcher.

Main Stage is the main mode, which can be played alone or with up to three others. Players choose a song and a musical part — lead guitar, bass, drums or vocals — and press button inputs in time with scrolling notes on the screen. Songs range from easy to expert level and the expert level has an additional fifth note input. Guitar controllers that are compatible with Rock Band work with the lead and bass parts in a separate Pro mode.

Battle Stage pits 16 players against each other to get the highest score with up to 4 songs per session, and eliminates the lowest scoring players at the end of each round until one winner remains.

Jam Stage is a mash up and remix mode. Players combine stem tracks from several songs — each contributing one of the four instrumental parts — and tempo and key are changed. The resulting compositions can be played in real time and saved in the form of emotes (known as Jam Loops) that can be played in Battle Royale, Creative, and LEGO Fortnite.

Songs are purchased individually using in-game currency or packaged with seasonal passes. Harmonix also developed a Patchwork system that allows creators using UEFN to add dynamic music systems to their own game experiences.

ROCKET RACING

Rocket Racing was introduced as well as LEGO Fortnite and Festival in December 2023. It was developed by Psyonix, the developer of Rocket League. Rocket Racing – an arcade racing game with boost mechanics, drifting, wall-riding, and ceiling-riding on tracks which include ramps, tunnels, and alternate routes. Players can customize their vehicles from the Fortnite cosmetic locker; there are some Battle Royale skins that have matching Whiplash car designs. A Ranked progression ladder has a separate ladder of competitive performance from casual racing.

FORTNITE CREATIVE AND UEFN

Creative mode gives all players a private island where they can create their own game experiences using the assets available in Fortnite without any code. Prefab structures, gameplay devices and logic triggers enable creators to design deathruns, tycoon games, racing courses, zombie survival maps and other tailored experiences. Completed islands are given a unique code which other players enter to access them in the Discover section of the Fortnite launcher.

Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) debuted in March 2023 as a standalone Windows application that brings the full Unreal Engine 5 toolset – including the rendering, lighting, animation and VFX systems – to Fortnite island creation. UEFN also supports Verse, Epic’s custom scripting language, which makes it possible to create game logic that would be impossible with the use of Creative’s device-based visual system. Starting in late 2025, Epic internally began developing new Fortnite Battle Royale seasons with UEFN.

Creators publish their islands to the Discover page, where they are discovered by other players, as well as Epic’s own modes. Epic’s engagement-based payout system will give a percentage of Fortnite’s total revenue to creators based on how much time people spend in their islands. Total creator payouts were more than $722 million since the program began. Starting December 2025, Epic launched direct item sales from creator islands and creators will receive 100% of the value of the V-Bucks from item sales for the duration of 2026 as part of a promotional period.

Fall Guys, which Epic acquired in 2023, is also available through the Fortnite launcher, as well as Creative experiences.

LIVE EVENTS

Epic has hosted massive live in-game events throughout the history of Fortnite, where every player online experiences the same real-time spectacle at the same time. These events are typically the last event of a chapter or major season that ends with a narrative climax that alters the map of the game’s island before the next chapter is introduced.

Events have included virtual concerts with artists such as Travis Scott (2020), Ariana Grande (2021), Eminem (2023), Snoop Dogg and Ice Spice (2024) and the Daft Punk Experience (September 2025), billed by Epic as the largest musical event in Fortnite history. The in-game concerts have drawn millions of simultaneous viewers.

Narrative events have included the destruction and transformation of entire islands. The Zero Hour event that ended Chapter 6 in November 2025 had more than 13 million in-game participants. With Chapter 7, Epic partnered with director Quentin Tarantino to create an eight minute animated short film, “The Lost Chapter: Yuki’s Revenge” using Unreal Engine with Fortnite character models and Uma Thurman reprising her Kill Bill role using motion capture.

CROSS OVERS and LICensed Content

Fortnite’s item shop and seasonal content regularly includes characters, skins and items from other properties. The range of its licensed crossovers is unusually broad for a video game, including characters from both the Marvel and DC superheroes, Star Wars characters, anime series (Dragon Ball, Naruto, My Hero Academia, Jujutsu Kaisen), gaming franchises, musicians, sports teams, fashion brands, and film and television properties.

Crossover content typically includes character outfits, back accessories, harvesting tools, and emotes available in the item shop for a limited period of time. Some of the collaborations include special in-game weapons or locations that can be found for a season.

MONETIZATION

Fortnite is 100% cosmetic in terms of how it is monetized. No purchases give you any advantage in gameplay; all purchased items give appearance only.

V-Bucks are the in-game currency, and can be purchased with real money for about 1,000 V-Bucks for $7.99 USD. They can be spent in the item shop on individual skins, emotes, accessories, and other cosmetics or to buy battle passes.

The Battle Pass is available every season for 950 V-Bucks ($7.99). It provides a tiered reward system of cosmetics that are earned by gaining experience points by playing any mode. There are several passes across the various modes, including the main Battle Royale Battle Pass, the Music Pass for Fortnite Festival (renamed from Festival Pass in late 2024), and the Lego Pass for Lego Fortnite. Since late 2024, all three passes are progressive and can be earned by gaining experience points in any mode of Fortnite.

Fortnite Crew is a monthly subscription at $11.99 USD per month which includes the current Battle Pass, Music Pass, Lego Pass, monthly V-Bucks allocation, and exclusive monthly cosmetics not available elsewhere.

The item shop changes its offerings of available cosmetics every day, with rarer and collaboration-based items returning on different schedules or sometimes not being available after a limited time. This model of scarcity encourages buying in time frames of availability.

In 2022, Epic was forced to pay $520 million in a settlement with the FTC over purchase design practices, with $245 million going towards refunds to players. The refund claims period ran until July 2025, with payouts in 2026.

PLATFORMS AND CROSS-PLAY

Fortnite supports cross-platform games on all platforms. A player on a PlayStation can be in the same match as a player on PC, Nintendo Switch or mobile. All cosmetics and progression is tied to an Epic Games account, and this is transferable between platforms if the same account is used.

Available On: Windows (via Epic Games Launcher), macOS (Battle Royale, Creative and Newer modes; Save the World not available on macOS), PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X and Series S, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, iOS (returned to U.S. App Store May 20, 2025; available in EU through the Epic Games Store on iOS since August 2024), Android (via Epic Games Store).

Mobile play on iOS is available through the native App Store download as well as through cloud streaming services in areas where the app is not available.

Controller and keyboard-and-mouse input are platform-wide and there are separate matchmaking pools in some modes to maintain input method balance in competitive situations.

SYSTEM REQUIREMENTS (PC)

Minimum:

• Operating System: Windows 10/11 (64-bit)
• CPU: Core i5-7300U, Ryzen 3 3300U or equivalent
• RAM: 8 GB
• GPU: Intel HD 630, Nvidia GTX 960, AMD RX 470 or equivalent
• Storage: 29 GB

Recommended:

• CPU: Core i7-8700, Ryzen 7 3700x or Equivalent
• RAM: 16 GB
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 3070, AMD RX 6700 XT, equivalent

Epic-recommended:

• CPU: Core i7-8700, Ryzen 7 3700x or equivalent
• RAM: 16 GB
• GPU: Nvidia RTX 4080 or AMD RX 7900 XTX or equivalent

Internet connection required for all modes.