Epic Games laid off over 800 people a year ago, following what CEO Tim Sweeney confessed was an "unrealistic" period of investment designed to "grow Fortnite as a metaverse-inspired ecosystem for creators". Now, it's time to start talking about brighter, metaversal tomorrows and hopefully, not do the whole thing all over again. Epic have detailed early plans for Unreal Engine 6, which Sweeney says will combine Unreal Engine with Fortnite's easy-to-use Unreal Editor to create a gigantic, "interoperable" metaverse platform that lets developers sell stuff that can seamlessly be transferred to other games, whether they run on Unreal Engine or not. Stealth blockchain post? Genuinely, I can neither confirm nor deny.
]]>An Unreal Engine developer has got classic Doom running in Fortnite, in a manner of speaking broad enough to justify a series of headlines about it, including my own. Jackson Clayton honoured the proud tradition of getting the 1993 FPS to run on things where no Doom should be by porting classic opening stage E1M1, via level editor Ultimate Doom Builder, into Fortnite’s Unreal editor as a 3D model. Welcome, newcomer Fortnite, to the vaunted halls currently occupied by gut bacteria, jar-grown rat neurons, lawnmowers, teletext, electric toothbrushes, Windows notepad (sort of), and a pregnancy test.
]]>We've known for some time that Fallout was coming to Fortnite, we just weren't entirely sure in what capacity. Well, now we know that this season's wasteland offerings take the form of a sort of Mad Max meets Fallout meets Borderlands- battle royale affair. There's a big emphasis on deserts and vehicles, basically, with highlights including: mechanical fists, turrets on cars, and the possibility of manning one of two War Buses that patrol the reworked map.
]]>War never changes, and either does Fortnite's love of a crossover. Thus, Fallout and Fortnite are colliding as the post-apocalyptic RPG heads to the battle royale shooter’s upcoming next season.
]]>Ready for a sentence that could only apply to the everything-but-the-kitchen-sink pop-culture smorgasbord of modern-day Fortnite? Here we go! A rucksack containing Star Wars’ Yoda has been temporarily banned from the battle royale game, after crashing games when players wearing the green Jedi master on their back do the Zoidberg Scuttle emote from Futurama.
]]>In its continuing quest to become Everything to Everyone, Fortnite has shapeshifted, The Thing-like, into a new Lego Star Wars game. The Lego Fortnite survival mode has been expanded with a new, permanent Star Wars world, with this weekend - which includes May the Fourth, don’tcha know - also kicking off a new battle pass and bringing additions to every other part of Fortnite: whether you’re playing it as a battle royale shooter (remember that?), racing game or music-rhythm successor to Guitar Hero.
]]>Royale-battler Fortnite will soon allow players to hide a handful of emotes the developers concede are "sometimes used in confrontational ways". This includes the emote reported as the most-used in Fortnite's seven-year history. That's either a worrying indictment of the game's players, or a (more?) worrying indictment of universal human psychology. What is the offending animation? Well, turns out people don't like being laughed at.
]]>The PC and console market grew by 2.6% to $93.5 billion in revenue last year, according to a new report by video games date company Newzoo (cheers, Kotaku!) That’s good, right? Growth is universally a good thing, otherwise all those nice, dead-eyed men in suits wouldn’t keep saying it was. You can’t just lie about growth, that’s a business crime. However, here’s some slightly more worrying news, depending on how much you value new ideas: Of all the game time that gamers spent gaming in quantifiable Big Year for Gaming 2023, just 20% of that time was gamed on games other than the 66 specific games mentioned in the report.
]]>Lego Fortnite's latest update lets players construct their own vehicles. The Mechanical Mayhem update, out now, adds three vehicle builds, and new items which let players craft their own custom designs. It's the second major update to the blocky survival game since its launch last year.
]]>Fortnite, one of the biggest third-person shooters in, well, ever, could be about to become one of the biggest first-person shooters ever. Epic have revealed that a first-person camera mode is headed to their ridiculously popular battle royale game later in 2024, letting you blast Peter Griffin, Solid Snake's flat butt and other pop-culture icons up-close.
]]>After cracking open its virtual Pandora’s Box using the magical key of “shooting it with a lot of bullets”, Fortnite’s mythical next season is due to roll out later today. Chapter 5 Season 2 - or Myths & Mortals, if you prefer - will bring a pantheon of god powers, locations from Greek mythology and, uh, Korra from the Avatar: The Last Airbender sequel, who has a gun now I guess.
]]>Epic Games are investigating a claim that the Fortnite publishers have suffered a massive ransomware attack, with almost 200GB of data reportedly stolen including emails, passwords, full names, payment information, source code and more besides.
]]>Disney are taking out a $1.5 billion minority equity stake in Fortnite publisher Epic Games, and have announced "an all-new games and entertainment universe that will further expand the reach of beloved Disney stories and experiences". According to Disney CEO Robert A. Iger, it's "Disney’s biggest entry ever into the world of games". Friends, we are witnessing the birth of a franchising megamoeba of titanic proportions - a new, Unreal Engine-driven "persistent universe" of playing, watching, shopping and other content-tickling opportunities, featuring characters and stories from Pixar, Marvel, Star Wars, Avatar "and more". Where are your puny gods now?
]]>In addition to resolutions, new years are always good times to start thinking about the futureeeee, with or without a wibbly oooOOOoooOoooOh intonation. Predictions about what's going to happen over the next 12 months abound, some of which are more spurious (and light-hearted) than others. But such near-sightedness is not what we're concerning ourselves with today in this latest edition of Ask RPS. We're looking much further ahead, thanks to this excellent question from MiniMatt.
They ask: "Dearest RPS, This being your 150th year in PC gaming [Ed: this question was submitted in 2023], please tell us what the next 150 years hold? Will VR become universal? Will the desktop PC box survive or will we all move over to laptops & steam decks? Will industry continue to consolidate or fragment? Get yer nostradamus on and tell us Peter Molyneux's future.
Indeed, a lot has changed in the world of PC gaming since our esteemed founding in 1873, so come and find out our best guesses for what the future holds below.
]]>Epic have won a victory in their attempt to argue that Google violates antitrust laws, as a jury has agreed that the Google Play app store and Google Play Billing service constitute an illegal monopoly. The decision comes three years after Epic first attempted to bypass Apple and Google when selling in-app purchases within Fortnite, leading to the game being yoinked from both the Apple and Google app stores and Epic filing lawsuits against both tech giants.
]]>Fortnite’s much-touted crossover with Lego is almost upon us - and it’s showing off a pretty darn impressive transformation. Lego Fortnite won’t just add a few minifig skins or some blocky guns, but a completely new co-op survival and crafting game mode with more than a touch of Minecraft about it.
]]>Fortnite’s devouring of all pop culture into its gigantic maw continues apace, as leaks suggest that next on the menu for the IP-gobbling battle royale shooter is Metal Gear Solid’s Solid Snake and Family Guy’s Peter Griffin. (Don’t worry, The Maw is safe from the maw, for now.)
]]>Battle royale shooter-turned-virtual music festival Fortnite is amping up its next musical collaboration - and this time, it’s bringing rapper Eminem back to the world of the video games for the first time in years.
]]>Widely embraced/feared search engine business Google - hello, Google! Please top-rank our Best Of features, if you'd be so kind - considered buying out Fortnite and Unreal Engine creator Epic in partnership with Tencent, according to documents revealed as part of Epic and Google's on-going legal battle over whether Epic should be able to sell stuff within the Android version of Fortnite.
]]>Fortnite returned to its map circa 2018 (or Chapter 1 Season 5 if you prefer to measure time that way) last Friday, reviving locations like Tilted Towers, Loot Lake and Greasy Grove and unlocking the battle royale game’s vaulted weapons, vehicles and items in a four-week nostalgic event dubbed Season OG. As it turns out, with the old map and items came a whole lot of players, setting a new all-time concurrent player record for the multiplayer shooter that surpasses even its previous heights in the pop-culture zeitgeist.
]]>Fortnite’s nostalgic latest season has kicked off, bringing back a slew of weapons, vehicles, items and cosmetics from the battle royale game’s first chapter. The truncated Fortnite Chapter 4 Season OG - which will last just four weeks, rather than the usual three months - has also restored the game’s original map as seen in Chapter 1, meaning the return of places like Tilted Towers, Loot Lake and Greasy Grove.
]]>Fortnite's original map is coming back, Epic have confirmed. The news was announced via X (formerly Twitter) weeks after several leaks had suggested that time travel shenanigans would revert the free-to-play shooter's map back to its original Chapter 1 layout.
]]>Who had ‘playable remake of Alan Wake inside Fortnite’ on their 2023 bingo card? Nobody? Well, nevermind: either way, you can now relive the events of Remedy’s battery-powered horror game before its sequel comes out later this month.
]]>The fleetingly Epic Games-owned online audio distribution company Bandcamp have shed "at least" half their staff in the course of being sold off to Songtradr as part of mass layoffs at Epic this summer. That's according to the union Bandcamp United, who are even now restarting discussions with Epic in the hope of obtaining a better outcome.
It's terrible news for those affected, of course, but it also doesn't bode well for the future of independent music. Bandcamp, which has now traded hands twice in two years, is one of the few places where indie musicians can make a living. There are plenty of angry reactions from musicians and bands on social media, as you'd expect, but game developers are also rallying in support of Bandcamp United, with criticism aimed at Epic and Songtradr in equal measure.
]]>Epic have dropped a bunch of details as to planned improvements for the Epic Games Store in the on-going race to out-Steam Steam - the Coca-Cola to Epic's Pepsi Max. Amongst other things, we can expect more robust search features, support for third-party subscriptions, better EGS launcher performance, a download manager with improved controls, and a new "for you" personalisation tab - all of that rolling out across 2024 and 2025.
Naturally, Epic will be continuing with their free games program through "2023 and beyond", and they've also put together a couple of special publishing offers for developers, Epic First Run and Now on Epic, which are designed to lure more studios from the amoeba-like embrace of Valve's gaming empire.
]]>Sergiy Galyonkin - aka Mr. SteamSpy himself - has left Epic Games after almost a decade at the Fortnite maker, including six years as its director of publishing strategy, saying that he is no longer “a good fit” for the publisher.
]]>Fortnite is to increase the price of its in-game currency V-Bucks in a number of countries, including the US and across Europe. While publisher Epic Games attributed the decision to economic factors - citing previous “pricing alignment” in countries including the UK over the summer - the move will follow hundreds of job losses at the company, partially as the result of lower than expected revenue for their immensely popular battle royale shooter.
]]>Unreal Engine and Fortnite publisher Epic Games are making an absolutely enormous round of job cuts. As announced by billionaire founder and CEO Tim Sweeney in an email to staff today, the company will lay off approximately 830 people, totalling “around 16%” of their workforce, in order to achieve “financial sustainability” following a period of heavy investment and lower-than-hoped returns from Fortnite.
]]>Cor, has it really been almost half a year since we've done one of these? Apologies, readers. I honestly don't know where the time goes. It's probably because we're spending too much time with our favourite guilty pleasure games, which is the subject of this latest Ask RPS column.
The question comes courtesy of ronzilla, who asked: What were your favourite guilty pleasure games of 2022? As in, I play this all the time and I'm semi-embarrassed to admit it?
A good question! In canvassing the wider RPS Treehouse for their responses, it quickly became clear that most of our guilty pleasure games extend way beyond the bounds of just the year 2022, so we've answered a bit more broadly than the original question perhaps intended. Still, hopefully there are still some entertaining answers in here nonetheless.
]]>Every now and then I think back to my first experience of Fortnite, back in the dingy early-mid 2010s - a clever but laborious wave defence game inspired by Minecraft and CliffyB's childhood memories of building sofa cushion forts. I compare this project, which seemed pretty much doomed at the time, with the globe-straddling free-to-play battle royale/concert venue/art gallery/Olympic sport/all-swallowing multiverse Fortnite has become, and I feel extremely old. My sense of time's crushing burden is not alleviated for learning that Epic are staffing up for work on "a new experience in the Fortnite ecosystem", which sounds a lot like a Fortnite open worlder. What fresh hell is this, Epic? When will enough be enough?
]]>Jujutsu Kaisen will be the next smash-hit anime series to be turned into Fortnite skins, according to a number of reputable Fortnite dataminers known for leaking the battle royale’s upcoming crossovers.
]]>This week, the Electronic Wireless Show podcast – minus Alice, who’s away – goes faster, higher, and maybe even stronger as we discuss the upcoming Olympic Esport Series 2023. Yes, those Olympics. Battle royale megahit Fortnite recently joined the events list, but are the Olympics folk really making the best use of games if they’re just recreating real-life competitions? And which games would we choose for our own hypothetical esports event, which may or may not involve the unleashing of big cats? Listen in to find out, though you probably already know Nate is going to say Age of Empires. Also, we attempt to crack the case of a mysterious graphics card/lobster smuggling operation, chat about what we’ve been playing this week, and make some zesty recommendations.
]]>Fortniters everywhere, rejoice! Playing Fortnite can now put you on the road to the Olympics, so teachers can no longer scold kids for sneaking in a game during class - that’s how you win gold medals now, goddammit. The Olympics have today announced that the money-printing battle royale has joined the line-up for the Olympic Esport Series 2023, taking place in Singapore next month.
]]>Epic Games have married their two money makers, creating holy matrimony between battle-royale mainstay Fortnite and Unreal Engine 5. As part of the company’s State Of Unreal presentation, Epic unveiled Unreal Editor For Fortnite (UEFN), a UE5-powered version of the game’s Creative mode which the community has been referring to as Creative 2.0 for the past few months. UEFN is out right now in beta form, and some of what’s possible with these tools are downright wild.
]]>In the latest edition of Ask RPS, our new mailbag feature where RPS supporters pose us questions that we then answer in public posts for everyone to enjoy, we're turning our gaze to that loved and loathed staple of the video gaming landscape: achievements. Ah, achievements. Never mind if they're good or bad. Today, we're remembering the terrible things we've done to actually get them.
The question comes courtesy of Fachewachewa, who asked: What's the worst thing you've done for an achievement? Or more generally, a time you were focused on a specific goal in a game, reached it (or gave up), and after, looked back and thought, "Why did I do that?"
Why, indeed. Come and find out which achievements have spawned our biggest gaming regrets, and why not tell us about your own gaming follies in the comments? We can all wallow in our foolishness together.
]]>Dead Space’s Isaac Clarke is clearly a man of many talents. He’s a systems engineer by trade, so he knows his way around the dense innards of space vessels. He’s also handy around a toolbox and is more than familiar with high-risk equipment like the Plasma Cutter. Oh, and he’s remarkably good at slicing and dicing necromorphs into juicy squelchy lumps. What a resume!
But did you know that our favourite space engineer also has lots of secret talents too? When Dead Space originally came out in the back end of 2008, his corporate overseers at EA sent Mr. Clarke to do all sorts of odd jobs before he popped off on the believeable, but bleak USG Ishimiura. Golf caddy, professional skateboarder, even a part-time dragon slayer. Heck, he's recently been back on the second gig train with his stint in Fortnite just earlier this week. The poor dude is in desperate need of a vacation. Until then, though, come and marvel at Isaac's many talents and see what a hard worker he is.
]]>Devs seem to think that Epic Games' whirlwind of pop cultural cross-pollination Fortnite is the game best positioned to deliver the vision of the metaverse to us, the Game Developers Conference have revealed. The results of the GDC’s 11th annual State Of The Industry survey were released this week. The survey checked in with more than 2,300 developers to pick their brains on contentious issues facing gaming, ranging from unionisation and harassment to, erm, blockchain.
]]>Fortnite developer Epic Games is settling two complaints made to the US Federal Trade Commission by paying out a total of more than half a billion dollars. Wall Street Journal report that the FTC alleged Epic had violated protections intended to secure children’s privacy, and tactically drove players to make unintended purchases that amounted to hundreds of millions of dollars. The company are now settling for $520 million (£427 million).
A federal court case claimed that Epic breached the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting details about Fortnite players who were younger than 13 years old without getting parental consent or contacting their parents. That’s been settled for $275 million. The complaint also alleged Epic illegally enabled real-time voice and text chat for young players as Fortnite’s default, which the FTC said put them at risk from strangers.
]]>A class-action lawsuit against Epic Games’ Fortnite is going ahead in Quebec, more than three years after it was originally filed. CTV News report that parents of three Canadian children who regularly play Fortnite claim the game was created to be “highly addictive”, and allege the battle royale has caused their kids psychological and physical problems, along with financial issues. Although the families are seeking damages from Epic, no figure has been put on those yet. Epic has 30 days to appeal the case or it’ll go to trial.
]]>The end of another Fortnite map is nigh, with Chapter 3 of the free-to-play battle royale drawing to a surprisingly early close next month. The change will coincide with the end of Season 4 in an event called Fracture, teased by devs Epic Games at the end of the Fortnite Champion Series held over the weekend. Fracture kicks off on December 3rd at 9pm GMT / 1pm PST.
]]>Buried beneath an Everest sized pile of TikTok dance emotes, Marvel skins and lavish live concerts for Ariana Grande lies the actual reason Fortnite has kept me playing for the best part of half a decade: Fortnite is one of the finest multiplayer shooters on PC, and no, I’m not joking. It rules.
]]>It’s fair to say that this hasn’t been the coolest week on record in many places around the world, so I’m giving Fortnite the side-eye for the No Sweat Summer event that’s running until August 9th. It’s a bit daft, as you’d expect from Epic Games’ battle royale by this point. You’ll get the opportunity to boogie down, race boats and help rebuild Tilted Towers. Watch the trailer below and marvel at how they can all dance without keeling over.
]]>On this week's episode of the Ultimate Audio Bang, we turn our attention to shooters and their demands. They all want our undivided attention and for Hayden and I, it's fast becoming a bit much. Believe it or not, we're adults with clothes to fold and ovens to pre-heat! Daily quests and inane challenges aren't bringing us back, if anything, they're beginning to drive us away.
]]>Steam Deck news followers may recall Epic Games deciding against making Fortnite compatible with the Deck, citing cheating concerns despite simultaneously making sure its own Easy Anti-Cheat system could work on the handheld. That hasn’t changed, but there is now at least one legit way to play the crossover-happy battle royale on the Steam Deck, as it’s just launched on Xbox Cloud Gaming.
]]>The makers of Lego are teaming up with Fortnite creators Epic Games to build some sort of "metaverse" play space. I think that means they're making an online Lego game, a concept which has existed many times before, but they don't really say what it is they're up to. In lieu of explanation, they repeat the word "metaverse".
]]>Being able to construct towers and barricades is one of Fortnite's defining features, but the launch of the battle royale's Chapter 3 season 2 posited: what if nah? It removed building entirely, and that was around nine days ago. Now there's a new update which renames Fortnite's main mode to "Zero Build", suggesting the change might stick around for a while.
]]>Epic Games might have committed to making their Easy Anti-Cheat (EAC) system more compatible with the Steam Deck, but don’t expect to see their biggest game on the Valve handheld. Battle royale money machine Fortnite will not be updated to work on the Steam Deck – and according to Epic CEO Tim Sweeney, that’s down to a lack of “confidence that we’d be able to combat cheating” on Linux platforms.
]]>Epic Games ended Chapter 2 of Fortnite over the weekend with a live in-game event which a live in-game event which involved a hole in reality, a UFO invasion, a sexy babe, and a new character played by Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson. The game's island flipped over too, revealing a whole new map for players to explore in Chapter 3 Season 1. And I find myself being lured in by two new features I usually adore in games: sliding on your knees while shooting, and swinging around like Spider-Man.
]]>Epic Games have bought Harmonix, the studio behind rhythm games including Rock Band and Fuser, to help support their boring attempt to "build the metaverse". The Fortnite and Unreal Engine overlords say that Harmonix "will collaborate closely with Epic to develop musical journeys and gameplay for Fortnite". The battle royale has seen some fancy musical performances, with elaborate in-game events to promote pop stars including Travis Scott and Ariana Grande, but hopefully Harmonix aren't consigned to advertising for eternity?
]]>Radiohead's surprising collaboration with Epic Games is out now. The Kid A Mnesia Exhibition is a virtual environment designed to accompany and celebrate Radiohead's classic Kid A and Amnesiac albums. It's an odd project, but it's one that makes sense for a band that are often experimental and technologically progressive.
Then they've also made items and costumes available for Rocket League, Fall Guys and Fortnite, turning Radiohead into just another brand to be engaged with in Epic's dull metaversal future.
]]>I arrive at this episode of the Ultimate Audio Bang thoroughly shootered. Both big FPS releases of the month, Call Of Duty: Vanguard and Battlefield 2042, have been at my fingertips this week and I've got some thoughts. Of course, Imogen hits us with news too. Valorant has another new character coming out, Fortnite pulls Travis Scott, and Imogen gives us the lowdown on just how much she's enjoying Apex Legends' latest season.
]]>A Fortnite emote featuring music by Travis Scott has seemingly been removed from sale, following a tragedy at the rapper's Astroworld festival on Saturday that killed eight people. The emote appeared in the item store's daily selection on Sunday, then soon after Epic outright disabled that section. While they haven't explained why, the cause seems clear.
]]>League of Legends, Teamfight Tactics, Legends of Runeterra, and Valorant are all now available via the Epic Games Store. That's all of Riot's games, in case you were wondering, which have previously been solely available on PC via their own launcher. At the same time, League Of Legends hero Jinx is hopping into Fortnite.
]]>The legal battle between Epic Games and Apple continues as it seems that both are probably willing to cut the proverbial Fortnite baby in half. Earlier this month, the court ruled that Apple must allow third-party payment systems, which was apparently not enough for Epic, who decided to submit an appeal last week. Now, Apple have informed Epic that they will not be allowing Fortnite back into the App Store clubhouse until they've exhausted all their own avenues to appeal. Which means Fortnite could remain off the store for years yet, according to Epic.
]]>Long gone are the days when the best battle royale games were all about picking up colourful guns in an ever-shrinking safe zone. There are still plenty that fit that description, of course, but now we have battle royales about swinging swords, wobbly beans, and wrestling, too, giving us a huge variety to choose from. The best battle royales all have one thing in common, though: they're all about being the last person (or people, for team games) standing. Oh, and you usually battle it out in weird and wonderful costumes.
]]>Though a judge largely ruled against Epic Games on Friday in their App Store legal battle with Apple sparked by Fortnite in-app purchases on iOS, clearly that wouldn't be the end. It isn't. On Sunday, Epic filed a notice that yes, they're appealing the ruling. At this point they haven't said precisely what they object to and why but, y'know, they want it to go their way.
]]>iOS app developers must be allowed to direct users towards payment options other than those provided by Apple, a US judge has ruled in the Epic v. Apple case. Apple have 90 days, until December 9th, to comply.
]]>Last year, Epic Games revealed Unreal Engine 5 with a pretty Tomb Raider-style tech demo, showing a Lara Croft-like lady travelling through some ancient caves and ruins. At the time, I thought: "Ooh, wouldn't it be great to play through that!" Though sadly, it wasn't an actual game. However, you can become the cool, previously unnamed character in Fortnite now, because they've added a skin of her, named Windwalker Echo. Better than her sitting in limbo in a trailer forever, I suppose.
]]>Fortnite now has a new mode called Fortnite Impostors. I'll give you two guesses as to what it is, and if you get the first one wrong I'm going to assume you're the impostor. I mean, it's in the headline.
The mode is Among Us, more or less, and there's a trailer for the backstab royale below.
]]>Newly unsealed documents in Epic's antitrust court case against Google allege that the tech giant considered buying "some or all" of Epic Games, out of concern over the Fortnite developer's intention to sidestep the Google Play app store.
]]>Fortnite codes are used to find servers in Creative Mode, where players build their own maps designed around various gameplay styles and share codes to allow anyone to play them.
For many people, "Fortnite" means "Battle Royale", but there's more to this game than its most famous feature. If you're a Fortnite fan then you really shouldn't sleep on its Creative Mode. Below are our picks for the very best Fortnite Creative codes out there.
]]>The trial between Epic and Apple over app store practices is underway and previously private details of the Fortnite developer's business are spilling. We're not a business site and ordinarily I wouldn't care, but ooh, it's good goss isn't it. For example, we now know that Fortnite made over $9 billion in its first two years of release.
]]>Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 6 has arrived in the usual Fortnite fashion, with a whopping great event that has changed the game's map and added in a load of new stuff to discover. This season, named Primal, has introduced, well, lots of "primal" things. You'll be able to explore a new prehistoric biome, hunt animals across the island, and use their loot to craft yourself some weapons.
]]>Last week we learned that Apple had subpoenaed Valve to ask for data on games released via Steam, to help them build their case in their pending legal kerfuffle with Epic Games. Valve argued that they shouldn't have to comply, but yesterday a US judge ruled in Apple's favour.
]]>Epic Games are settling a class-action lawsuit brought over loot boxes in Rocket League and Fortnite: Save The World with payouts in the games' microtransaction currencies. Anyone who bought a Loot Llama in Fortnite: Save The World will get 1000 V-Bucks, while people who purchased Event Crates or Keys in Rocket League will get 1000 Credits. Some people can pursue further claims for actual money, too.
]]>Apple would like Valve to hand over lots of information about how much money they make. Valve would prefer not. This is my two sentence summary of a joint discovery letter filed yesterday, as part of Apple's ongoing legal skirmish with Epic Games over Fortnite and Apple app store fees.
What do Valve have to do with that fight between Apple and Epic? Not much, say Valve.
]]>After showing musical extravaganzas, movie trailers, and even Incept and Batman in full, Fortnite's social space will next host a short film festival. A dozen animated short films will be screened on the in-game cinema on a cycle across Saturday and Sunday - actual proper short films, many from actual proper film festivals. Have a peek in the trailer below.
]]>Epic have shared some stats from the Epic Games Store in 2020. The key takeaways: almost two-thirds of all money spent on the store is spent on games made by Epic; but golly, they sure did give away a lot of free games.
]]>As if a 100-player murderparty weren't reason enough to fight, Fortnite is adding football to the mix. Epic Games today announced they're introducing football kits from 23 teams around the world, bringing the beautiful game's sporting, political, and religious rivalries to the video game. Also I guess you can just take pride in your team, if you want. Local teams represented include Celtic, Rangers, Man City, and West Ham, then worldwide they have teams everywhere from Germany to Australia. They're holding a 4v4 fortball tournament too.
]]>Epic Games are the Fortnite company, sure. But on the developer side of things, they're the Unreal Engine company - and while Fortnite is obviously made using that base, the two rarely overlapped if you weren't actively employed to work on the battle royale. Next year, however, Fortnite players will be able to spice up their creative maps with custom models, bespoke scripts and editable maps using Unreal's toolset.
]]>For being the biggest game of the past decade, Fortnite's system requirements aren't exactly generous. Okay, yes, it'll run on phones and the Switch, but my ratty old laptop still struggles with it, which is why I'm actually excited by the game's experimental new "performance" mode, which hopes to improve framerates for folks who are already scraping the lowest graphics sliders.
]]>During last night's The Game Awards show with games announcements man Geoff Keighley, a different Geoff actually arrived to deliver one of the reveals. Geoff Ramsey, one of the voices from ye olde Halo-based Red Vs Blue web series, popped out in character as Grif of the red team to announce a new capture the flag map for Fortnite inside a very familiar canyon.
]]>With Halo Infinite delayed into next year and The Master Chief Collection all wrapped up, where is one supposed to hang out with their big green friend? Fortnite, apparently, should this week's rumours be believed. Recent alleged leaks suggest John Halo himself is making his way to murder island as part of this season's multi-dimensional crossover, letting the big man finally compete in a castle-building contest with The Mandalorian.
Fortnite got real weird, huh.
]]>Alright, let me get this straight. Last night, Fortnite was eaten by Marvel villain Galactus, but Iron Man swooped in and put you in a battle bus rigged with explosives so he'd blow up in the process. The Fortnite island exploded as well, but has now magically come back to life, and everyone and his mum is a bounty hunter?
It's been so long since I've played this game. But you know what? Fortnite Season 5 sounds like a party. It added everyone's favourite bounty-hunting duo, Mando and Baby Yoda, and made a load of changes to its map and lore to boot.
]]>At least, that's the best I can describe what just happened in Fortnite's superhero-packed finale for Chapter 2, Season 4. The cinematic climax to an Avengers-themed period of murder island antics just wrapped up with a wonderfully bizarre dogfighting section, hurling players straight into the planet-killer's tummy before pulling the servers offline to prepare for season 5.
]]>If your nieces and nephews are not yet pestering you with Christmas lists of page and item numbers from the Argos catalogue, here's something else you'll likely have demanded: a Fortnite subscription. Epic Games today announced the Fortnite Crew, a £10/month optional subscription service offering exclusive outfits plus pocket money for the item store. That's launching alongside Chapter 2, Season 5 next Wednesday, the 2nd of December. After Galactus tries to eat the world.
]]>Would you pay a monthly subscription to get extra goodies in Fortnite? It looks as though Epic Games are trying to find out. A number of players have received surveys asking about their opinions on a potential monthly subscription for the game, and what they think it should include. These surveys come with little mockups of what Epic could offer players on a monthly basis, with prices ranging from $13.99 to $18.99 - the upper end of which would be over $200 a year. Now that's a lot of money to spend on Fortnite.
]]>Back when Fortnite first came out in 2018, it had the very polite install size of around 20GB. Having not played it for ages, I had no idea that it'd managed to beef all the way up to 90GB. Thankfully, that's not the case any longer, though, because today's update chopped it all down by 60GB. On top of that, it added a load of snazzy new Halloween stuff, too.
]]>While Epic and Apple's legal battle over app stores isn't due in court until next year, one important matter is settled for now: Epic will get the keep the Apple developer accounts which let them update and maintain Unreal Engine on Mac and iOS. Apple had threatened to disable those too, not just the accounts Epic use for Fortnite, until a judge approved Epic's appeal for a temporary restraining order. That's now settled for longer thanks to a preliminary injunction issued on Friday. But the judge also held firm in her decision not to force Apple to let Fortnite back on iThings. Everyone's a winner, everyone's a loser.
]]>Apple and Epic Games have been at odds over the past month and a half in the early phases of a lawsuit concerning Fortnite's presence on the App Store. Epic has filed an anti-trust lawsuit against Apple concerning their control of the App Store while Apple have returned a countersuit based on Epic breaking the terms of service for the store by adding a secondary payment option inside Fortnite to circumvent the App Store payment system. After a lot of barbs and posturing, they've at last come to agree on at least one thing. Both request that their cases are tried by the court rather than a jury.
]]>Fornite is lighting up its party island for another big musical event. This time Party Royale—the Fornite offshoot meant for chilling instead of killing—will host the debut of a new music video by Kpop band BTS for their single Dynamite. You can catch the grooves this Friday, September 25th.
]]>The newest casualty in Apple and Epic Games' legal squabble is Fortnite: Save The World. Nah, not the battle royale everyone plays, just the co-op horde game. If you're just catching up, Epic kicked off a big stink with Apple last month with a weird, 1984-inspired propaganda video as they circumvented Apple's cut of App Store sales. It's been all drama since then. Has this really only been going on for four weeks? This is going to be a long, tiresome ride.
]]>Chinese tech conglomerate Tencent have managed to draw the eyes of the US government for their dealings with American companies like Riot and Epic Games. Tencent own the former and have a 40% stake in the latter, not to mention ties with Activision Blizzard, Ubisoft, Discord, and more. Now, a government agency want to know how Tencent are handling the security of Americans' personal data.
]]>What does Fortnite need ray-tracing for, anyway? Epic's blockbuster murderfest isn't exactly gunning for hard realism, after all. Regardless, RTX ray tracing brings high-fidelity reflections, shadows and ambient occlusion to Fortnite today, alongside support for DLSS 2.0 to run those high-res rays at an agreeable frame rate. Fine, you've got me - I'll admit it does look quite nice after all.
]]>The number of confirmed ray tracing and DLSS games is still pretty small at time of writing, but today's big Nvidia Ampere reveal added another key addition to the slowly growing line-up: Fortnite. I'm not entirely sure why, given its art style largely consists of big, blocky worlds and colourful cartoon characters, but hey, if you've been particularly looking forward to doing battle with Fortnite's zero-chill sharks with added ray traced reflections, you'll be able to get your RTX on fix at some point during Fortnite Chapter 2's fourth season.
]]>Last Friday, actor Chadwick Boseman lost his life to cancer at age 43. Best known for his role as the Black Panther in Marvel's blockbuster flick of the same name, Boseman has now been memorialised in Fortnite by way of a colossal obsidian panther statue just west of Misty Meadows - turning the crossover event into an informal tribute spot for mournful fans of the late actor.
]]>Marvel's planet-gobbler, Galactus, is the new looming threat over Fortnite with Chapter 2: Season 4 starting today. The battle royale's new season is one big Avengers-style crossover called Nexus War, and it's brought loads of unlockable superhero outfits to dress up in while you battle the world-eater. Skins for heroes including Iron Man, She-Hulk, Wolverine and a bunch of others can be unlocked in the battle pass, and you'll be able to take on a few different superpowers in matches - you'll also be using these on each other, it is a battle royale, after all.
]]>Epic Games have successfully scored a temporary restraining order to stop Apple's plan to terminate their developer accounts on Friday, a move that would've stopped them from continuing to support Unreal Engine on Mac and iOS. Apple threatened this after Epic bypassed the App Store's payment systems in Fortnite, and Apple also ejected the battle royale shooter from their walled garden. Epic told the courts that this would harm the many developers who rely on Unreal Engine, and the judge agreed. But Epic didn't get all their wishes, so Apple don't have to let Fortnite back on iOS.
]]>Update: A judge has partially granted Epic's requests, so they should keep their dev accounts for now.
Losing the ability to keep developing Unreal Engine for Mac and iOS could really harm both Epic Games and the developers who rely on them, Microsoft have said in a legal statement supporting Epic. The Unreal lords are trying to get a court to stop Apple from terminating their developer accounts, which is due to happen on Friday unless their lawyers deliver a victory royale. It's one messy consequence of Epic's legal battle against Apple and Google over app store fees, which sure has escalated since starting with Fortnite microtransactions.
]]>In their ongoing attempt to create a public moral cause out of the courtroom battle they started with Apple and Google, Epic Games are holding a Fortnite tournament with some stupid prizes mocking Apple. Play in Sunday's #FreeFortnite Cup and you can earn the apple-headed 'Tart Tycoon' skin, and if you do really well you could even win a new laptop, console, phone, or stupid baseball cap with a parody of the old Apple logo. Nice that Epic are having fun with this while mobile developers who use Unreal Engine are uncertain about the future of their games.
]]>It was too much to hope for that Epic Games and Apple would take their fight quietly to a court room, it seems. After their very dramatic 1984 propaganda spinoff video, Epic are committed to having it out in public. The latest legal maneuver in the proceedings comes from Epic, who have asked the a US district court for northern California to prevent Apple from terminating their developer program account and reinstate Fortnite in the App Store.
]]>The PC Gaming Weekspot, RPS' weekly look at PC games news, returns this very night (right now, in fact, 6pm BST) for the RPS VidBuds to entertain you live and on your screens. This week Colm and Matthew will be taking a look at the Halo Infinite delay announced last week, new details on Dead Space developer Visceral Games' cancelled Star Wars game, Epic Games taking on Apple and Google over Fortnite, and more! All with interaction and input from you, the viewer, as you get involved in the chat.
]]>Yesterday, Epic Games appeared to intentionally violate Apple and Google app store rules to get Fortnite removed so they could jump-start a protest. Sick of mobile stores taking a 30% cut of microtransactions, they added a payment option bypassing official systems - something both stores forbid. Epic surely knew this, and the fact that they had lawsuits and an embarrassing protest video ready to go sure makes it seems like they suspected Fortnite might get kicked out. Epic do have one of the few products large enough to make a splash so hey, good on 'em for making a stand. I wish they'd done it without trying to weaponise fans.
]]>It's another bright new day in 2020, so I guess it's time to watch three mega corporations throw hissy fits because they aren't happy with the amount of money they're making off each other. Last night, Epic Games filed a lawsuit against Apple for removing Fortnite from the iOS App Store, after Epic broke Apple's payment policy. Then the exact same thing happened with Google and the Android Play Store, so naturally Epic are suing them too.
]]>The latest show to hit Fortnite's Party Island isn't a blow-out concert or Chris Nolan flick. Somehow, it's weirder. Hop in front of Fortnite's big telly right now and you'll find a call to "#FreeFortnite" from the supposed tyranny of tech giant Apple, who today removed the battle royale from the App Store for sidestepping its revenue policies. Now, Epic are taking Apple to court - and they've got an in-game ad campaign to make sure public perception is on their side.
]]>Fortnite's V-Bucks may have dropped 20% against the dollar, but economists need not fret. Unlike the real world, Epic's murder island isn't suffering an economic downturn. Instead, the blockbuster battle royale has decided to permanently cut the price of its virtual currency to spite tech giants Apple and Google, in an app store feud that's quietly benefiting those of us who prefer to parachute into Fortnite on PC.
]]>In what might be considered an unsurprising move, Ninja was back on Twitch yesterday - if only for a brief couple of hours. He played a bit of Fortnite's new Joyride update with Dr Lupo in his first stream on the platform since he left for Microsoft's now-dead Mixer last year. The popular lad had managed to rack up 100,000 viewers when I caught part of the stream early on yesterday, so his audience is clearly still there, though it doesn't seem like he'll be pledging himself to Twitch again just yet.
]]>It's time to collect your driving licence, because Fortnite's Joyride update just added some shiny new vehicles for you to race around in. There are four cars/trucks for players to find across the battle royale now, each allowing you to pick up your buds, hang out the windows and cause some carnage. You can even stick on their radios for a little sing-along if you fancy.
]]>In what must be a huge stroke of luck, some fella called "Ninja" is streaming on YouTube for the first time ever for hundreds of thousands of viewers. "Like, this is my first YouTube stream ever. Ever. Literally ever," Ninja told his viewers as he dropped out of the battle bus for his first Fortnite match of the stream. I know Fortnite's popular and all, but wow what an ego boost.
]]>How did you expect Fortnite to celebrate the USA's Independence Day? Fireworks, Rockets. Llamas and musicians falling from the sky? Instead, Epic have more appropriate plans for 2020's 4th of July celebration. As Black Lives Matter protests continue into the Summer, the monolithic battle royale hopes to use its new party island to educate - broadcasting Øpus United's anti-racism presentation We The People throughout the day.
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