Epic Games’ Fortnite: Battle Royale has been free to play since its launch last year, and the developer has been planning to make its player-versus-environment mode “Save the World” free in 2018, as well. However, players will have to keep paying for a little while longer.
In a “State of Development” update post on the game’s website, the Fortnite team revealed that Save the World would no longer be going free-to-play by the end of 2018. According to the post, this is because Epic Games wants to continue implementing new features and new “backend system scaling” before it becomes a free-to-play game.
“Scaling up for the legions of player heroes who will be joining the fight is key to providing an excellent experience,” the team added. “This applies to all of our players, old and new, so we’re taking the time to get this right.”
To thank those “Founders” who have been playing the paid version of the game since it launched in 2017, Epic Games is giving away free “Brainiac Jonesy” and “Skull Ranger Ramirez” skins, which you can grab if you play during the “Fortnitemares” event. The standard, deluxe, super deluxe, and limited editions of the Founder’s Packs are also half off this week as well.
An upcoming update will be the Hero system to give you a little more choice over who you pick. You can now customize six slots instead of three, and players who previously invested in materials will have currency refunded whenever “significant changes” are made to the systems.
If you were one of the people to purchase a physical version of Fortnite before it introduced battle royale last year, you could make some pretty decent cash, as well. The discs were discontinued several months ago but routinely go for well over $100 on re-selling sites. We’re not sure this is a wise way to spend your money, but their value could appreciate if Fortnite maintains its popularity.
Fortnite: Save the World is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, PC, and Mac. Fortnite: Battle Royale is available for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Nintendo Switch, PC, Mac, iOS, and Android. Full cross-play is supported between platforms in the battle royale mode.
