Fortnite was released in July 2017, with its initial “Save The World” mode available through early access on July 25. The “Battle Royale” mode came out as a free to play option on September 16, 2017. When Fortnite originally released not many people were really intrigued to play it, due to the fact that there were many other games similar to Fortnite such as Call of Duty, Free Fire, PUB G, and PlayerUnknown’s Battleground. However, Fortnite was unique when it came to platform, visual style, and building mechanics. Fortnite was available on nearly every major device which made it easier when it came to its player base growing. Streamers such as Ninja streamed the game to millions of viewers, generating organic buzz, and making the game a constant topic online. 2018 was when Fortnite was at its peak, millions of players were online everyday playing the game and no one would believe the game would die, the hype looked like it was never going to die down until 2019.
2019 would be the downfall of Fortnite for many reasons. Many developers online would see how great Fortnite was doing, thus they decided to develop their own games. Many games such as Apex Legends and the new Call Of Duty fragmented Fortnite’s playerbase, as many players migrated to new titles or simply just got bored of the game they once loved. Epic Games also had a big impact on the game’s downfall, throughout 2019 there would be constant updates where they removed a big piece of gameplay that made players love the game. Fortnite decided enough was enough and made a big change to Fortnite which many players agreed with and many others disliked. “The End” On October 13, 2019, a live event occurred where a meteor shower led to a black hole consuming the island, leaving players unable to play for a few days. Many people wondered what this would lead to, was this the end of Fortnite?
Well not exactly, On October 15, 2019, a new Chapter would be released. New map, new items, and new mechanics, no other game had ever done this before this is where many people decided to come back to the game, but it wasn’t exactly the hype Fortnite used to have. 2020 came around and as we all know during early 2020, Covid 19 happened and everyone in the world was forced to stay in their homes to stop the spread. Since many were stuck in their homes, people decided what’s the best thing to do to cure their boredom? Video games. Fortnite hit its second peak during Covid, and the hype was the same as it was back in 2018, well the hype didn’t really last that long. After 2020 Epic Games decided to ruin the game by adding items in the game that weren’t that useful, and the updates were horrible and plain.
Until late 2023 Fortnite was at its lowest peak ever, until Epic Games decided to make a move where it would make people talk. Epic Games decided to bring back the OG map aka the map that everyone loved back in 2018, but it was only for a short period of time. Bringing back the OG map was probably the best decision Epic has ever made, many people online came back to the game after years of not playing, millions of people online shared their story and the nostalgia Fortnite gave them. There will never be a game such as Fortnite because of the memories made along the way that people faced.
