Fortnite facts for kids

Quick facts for kids Fortnite
Genres	Survival, battle royale, sandbox
Developer	Epic Games
Publisher	Epic Games
Platforms	macOS Windows PlayStation 4 Xbox One iOS Nintendo Switch Android Xbox Series X/S PlayStation 5 Nintendo Switch 2
First release	Fortnite: Save the World July 25, 2017 (early access)
Latest release	Fortnite Ballistic December 11, 2024 (early access)

Fortnite is a very popular online video game and a platform created by Epic Games. It first launched in 2017. Players can enjoy Fortnite in many different ways, all sharing similar gameplay and graphics.

The game offers several exciting modes. These include Fortnite Battle Royale, where up to 100 players fight to be the last one standing. There is also Fortnite: Save the World, a team-based game where four players work together to fight zombie-like creatures. In Fortnite Creative, players have total freedom to build their own worlds and game arenas. Newer additions include Lego Fortnite, an open world game, Rocket Racing, a fast-paced racing game, and Fortnite Festival, a fun music game. Fortnite Ballistic, a tactical first-person shooter, launched in early access on December 11, 2024.

Most Fortnite game modes are free to play. Only Save the World requires a purchase. Fortnite Battle Royale quickly became a huge success. It attracted over 125 million players in less than a year. The game is considered one of the greatest games of all time.

Save the World is available on macOS, PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One. Battle Royale and Creative are available on these platforms, plus Android and iOS mobile devices, and Nintendo Switch. The game also launched on PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X/S, and Nintendo Switch 2 consoles. Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, Fortnite Festival, and Fortnite Ballistic are available on all these platforms.

Explore Fortnite's Exciting Game Modes

Fortnite features several game modes. They all use the same game engine, so they look and feel similar. Epic Games and its partners directly create and manage five of these modes:

• Fortnite: Save the World is a cooperative game. Four players team up to complete missions. They work together against a big storm. Players act as commanders of home bases. They gather resources, rescue survivors, and defend important equipment. Completing missions earns players in-game items. These include hero characters, weapon plans, and survivors. Players can level up these items to make them stronger.

• Fortnite Battle Royale is a player-versus-player game. Up to 100 players can join. You can play alone, with a friend (duo), or in a team (squad). Players start without weapons. They jump from a "Battle Bus" onto the game map. Then, they search for weapons, items, and building materials. The goal is to survive and eliminate other players. A toxic storm slowly shrinks the safe area of the map. Players outside this area take damage. This forces everyone closer together until only one player or team remains. Besides the main mode, there is Zero Build, which removes building. Reload lets players respawn for a short time. OG brings back the classic Chapter 1 map and weapons. "Party Royale" was a social space for events like concerts.

• Lego Fortnite is a platform for games made with Lego bricks. It includes Odyssey, a survival sandbox game. Players become Lego Minifig versions of characters. They collect materials, build structures, craft tools, and fight monsters. Brick Life is a social game where players can explore and interact. Lego Expeditions is a co-op action-adventure mode. Up to four players choose hero classes and customize gear to defeat enemies or solve puzzles.

• Rocket Racing is a thrilling racing game. It was developed by Psyonix, creators of Rocket League. Players race vehicles, getting speed boosts from special lanes or by drifting. They can also jump and race on vertical or upside-down surfaces. The challenge is to avoid obstacles on the track.

• Fortnite Festival is a fun rhythm game. It was developed by Harmonix. It has three modes. In "Main Stage," players play popular songs and original tracks. They hit notes to the rhythm using different parts: Lead, Guitar/Bass, Drums, and Vocals. This is similar to Harmonix's Rock Band games. The "Battle Stage" has sixteen players competing for the highest score. They try to survive each round until one player wins. In the "Jam Stage," players work together to create remixes. This is like Harmonix's Dropmix and Fuser. They can use any part of any song from Festival mode. These remixes can also be used in Battle Royale, Creative, and Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN).

• Fortnite Ballistic is a five-on-five, round-based tactical shooter. It is similar to games like Counter-Strike and Valorant. It launched in early access on December 11, 2024. One team plants and protects a rift device while it charges. The other team tries to eliminate them and disarm the device. Between rounds, players can buy weapons and gear. They use currency earned in previous rounds. Ballistic is the first Epic-developed game on the Fortnite platform to directly support a first-person view.

Fortnite also offers the sandbox mode, Fortnite Creative. In this mode, players have complete freedom. They can spawn any item from the Battle Royale game mode on their own private island. They can create their own games, like battle arenas, race courses, or platforming challenges. Creative also supports Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). UEFN lets players edit worlds using Fortnite assets. Both Creative and UEFN allow players to make custom Fall Guys and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles games. These can be played through the Fortnite launcher.

All modes except Save the World are free-to-play. Save the World is a paid game. The games make money through V-Bucks. V-Bucks are an in-game currency. You can buy them with real money. You can also earn them by completing missions in Save the World. In other modes, V-Bucks buy cosmetic items. These include character outfits or the game's battle pass. A battle pass offers many customization rewards. You earn these by gaining experience and completing goals during a Battle Royale season.

The battle pass first supported Fortnite Battle Royale. As more game modes were added in 2023, two more passes appeared. These were the Festival Pass for Fortnite Festival and the Lego Pass for Lego Fortnite. They required progress in those specific modes to get rewards. In November and December 2024, Epic changed this. Now, you can progress both the Music Pass (formerly Festival Pass) and Lego Pass by earning experience in any Fortnite game mode. The Fortnite Crew is a monthly subscription. It covers the main battle pass and extra cosmetics. It also expanded in late 2024 to include the Music and Lego passes.

All Fortnite modes support cross-platform play. This means you can play with friends on different devices. You just need an Epic Games account to save your progress across platforms.

How Fortnite Was Created

The Start of Fortnite: Save the World (2011–2017)

Fortnite began as an idea during a special game development event at Epic Games. This happened around 2011, after the game Gears of War 3 was released. The idea was to combine building games, like Minecraft, with shooter games. This led to the basic concept of Fortnite.

Developing Fortnite took some time. There were challenges, like switching from one game engine (Unreal Engine 3) to a newer one (Unreal Engine 4). Epic also wanted to make the game last longer with more role-playing elements. The art style changed from dark to a more cartoonish look. Epic also wanted to create games that offered ongoing services. They worked with a Chinese publisher, Tencent, to help with this. This partnership helped shape Fortnite into a testing ground for this new approach.

Epic finally released Fortnite as a paid early access game in July 2017. They planned to make it free-to-play later, in 2019. This early access allowed them to get feedback from players to improve the game. When Fortnite Battle Royale came out, the original player-versus-environment mode became known as "Save the World." Epic later decided to keep Save the World as a premium game. It officially left early access on June 29, 2020.

The Rise of Fortnite Battle Royale (2017–2018)

Around the time Fortnite launched in early access, another game, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds, became very popular worldwide. This showed a huge interest in battle royale games. Epic realized they could create a battle royale mode using their existing Fortnite game. They quickly developed their own version in about two months.

In September 2017, Epic planned to release this new mode as part of the paid early access. However, they soon decided to release it as a free game called Fortnite Battle Royale. It would be supported by small in-game purchases. This free version quickly gained players. Over 10 million players joined in its first two weeks. This success led Epic to create separate teams. These teams focused on developing Fortnite Battle Royale apart from Save the World. They shared common game engine parts and art. This allowed Fortnite Battle Royale to expand to more platforms. These included iOS and Android mobile devices, and the Nintendo Switch.

The Creativity of Fortnite Creative (2018–2023)

A creative sandbox mode launched on December 6, 2018. This happened at the start of season 7 of Fortnite Battle Royale. Each player received their own private island. On this island, they could build structures and add or change objects as they wished. Players could invite friends to their island. They could also play unofficial games like race tracks or jumping courses. At first, only players who bought the battle pass got an island. But a week later, on December 13, all players received free access to this game mode.

The Era of Fortnite Experiences (2023–Present)

In March 2023, Epic released the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN). This is a special editor for Windows computers. UEFN lets creators use the powerful Unreal Editor. It includes features from Unreal Engine 5 and Fortnite assets. They can use these to develop new modes within Fortnite Creative. This new mode was called "Creative 2.0."

In October 2023, Epic updated the main Fortnite game. It now presented Epic's own modes and many creative modes as "Fortnite Experiences." This was similar to how games are presented in Roblox. This change was followed by three new Epic-developed modes in December 2023. These were Lego Fortnite, a survival game made with The Lego Group. There was also Rocket Racing, an arcade-style driving game from Psyonix. Finally, Fortnite Festival, a rhythm game from Harmonix, was added. Each new mode was free-to-play. They connected with the game's battle pass system. They also offered new rewards linked to those modes. One recent Epic experience featured music by Daft Punk.

Many improvements to UEFN were announced in March 2024. These included adding Unreal Engine's MetaHuman character technology. More assets from Lego, Rocket Racing, and Fall Guys were also added. Epic also announced plans for future Fortnite Battle Royale seasons. These seasons, starting in late 2025, are planned to be developed using UEFN.

Timeline

2017: The Beginning

• July 25, 2017: Fortnite Battle Royale is released as a free-to-play standalone mode, entering early access.
• Season 1 (Oct 2017 - Dec 2017): The humble beginning. The original map was released. The first Battle Pass was introduced.
• Season 2 (Dec 2017 - Feb 2018): "Knights of the Frozen Throne." Introduced the first major map changes and a medieval theme.

2018: The Rise of a Phenomenon

• Season 4 (May - July 2018): "Blockbuster." A superhero-themed season with meteor craters and the first major superhero skins.
• Season 5 (July - Sept 2018): "Worlds Collide." Introduced rifts that brought in objects and characters from other worlds, including the first-ever crossover skin: Thanos.
• Season 6 (Sept - Dec 2018): "Darkness Rises." A Halloween-themed season with floating cubes (Kevin the Cube), shadow stones, and the introduction of pets.

2019: The Black Hole & A New World

• The End (Live Event - Oct 2019): A world-first interactive event where a rocket-launched device created a black hole that consumed the entire game, taking it offline for two days.
• Chapter 2: Season 1 (Oct 2019 - Feb 2020): Launched with a brand new map, new mechanics like swimming and fishing, and a fresh start for the game.

2020: Marvel Dominance

• Chapter 2: Season 2 (Feb - June 2020): "Top Secret." Introduced spy bases, a Deadpool skin, and the iconic Mandalorian skin.
• Chapter 2: Season 3 (June - Aug 2020): "Splash Down." A flood-themed season where the map was partially submerged.
• Chapter 2: Season 4 (Aug - Nov 2020): "Nexus War." A full Marvel Comics crossover where players used powers of heroes like Iron Man, Thor, and Wolverine to battle Galactus.
• The Devourer of Worlds Event (Dec 2020): Galactus attacked the island, requiring all players to join forces to defeat him in a massive live event.
• Chapter 2: Season 5 (Dec 2020 - March 2021): "Hunter." Introduced the Bounty Hunter theme and characters from different franchises like The Mandalorian, Kratos, and Master Chief.

'2021: The Invasion & The Flip

• Chapter 2: Season 6 (March - June 2021): "Primal." A primal-themed season with crafting, wildlife, and the introduction of The Spire.
• Chapter 2: Season 7 (June - Sept 2021): "Invasion." Aliens invaded the island, bringing UFOs and abducting players. Doctor Slone was a key character.
• Operation: Sky Fire Live Event (Sept 2021): The Mothership was destroyed, causing the Cube Queen to awaken and initiating "The Flip."
• Chapter 2: Season 8 (Sept - Dec 2021): "Cubed." The Cube Queen's corruption spread across the map, leading to the final battle.
• The End (Live Event - Dec 2021): The Foundation and the Seven flipped the entire island, marking the end of Chapter 2 and the beginning of Chapter 3.

2022: The Collision

• Chapter 3: Season 2 (March - June 2022): "Resistance." Players fought to overthrow the Imagined Order (IO) with a "No Build" mode introduced for the first time.
• Chapter 3: Season 3 (June - Sept 2022): "Vibin." A more relaxed season with Reality Blooms and the introduction of the iconic Baller vehicle.
• The Collision Live Event (June 2022): The massive mecha, Mecha Team Leader, pulled the entire Herald's desert biome from the sky, crashing it onto the island and creating a new, combined map.
• Chapter 3: Season 4 (Sept - Dec 2022): "Paradise." A Chrome-themed season where a liquid substance, the "Chrome," consumed and transformed parts of the map.

2023: The Fortnite Ecosystem Expands

• Chapter 4: Season 2 (March - Aug 2023): "MEGA." Introduced a cyberpunk Japanese city theme, with Kinetic Blades and the ability to grind on rails.
• Chapter 4: Season 3 (Aug - Nov 2023): "WILDS." A jungle-themed season with rideable dinosaurs, new wildlife, and a transformative jungle biome.
• Chapter 4: Season 4 (Nov 2023 - Dec 2023): "Last Resort." A heist-themed season with vaults, vampire-themed Eminem skins, and the OG Season finale.
• Fortnite OG (Nov - Dec 2023): A massively popular, condensed return to the original Chapter 1 map, cycling through its most iconic seasons weekly. This led to the game's highest player count ever.
• The Big Bang Event (Dec 2023): The event that ended Chapter 4 and launched Chapter 5, also serving as the reveal for three new permanent game modes: LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival.

2024: Chapter 5 - A New Beginning

• Chapter 5: Season 1 (Dec 2023 - Feb 2024): "Underground." Launched with a new island, weapon mods, and train travel. The Big Bang live event featured a collaboration with Lego, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival.
• Chapter 5: Season 2 (March - May 2024): "Myths & Mortals." A repeat of the popular Greek mythology theme from 2025's season, introducing Mount Olympus and the Underworld as key Points of Interest (POIs).
• Chapter 5: Season 3 (May - Aug 2024): "Wrecked." Focused on vehicular mayhem with modifiable cars, a new desert biome, and a "Mad Max" aesthetic.
• Chapter 5: Season 4 (Late 2024): "Absolute Doom." A Marvel-themed season centered around Dr. Doom, introducing new superpowers and a storyline involving the Marvel Universe.

2025: Chapter 6 & The Future

• Season 1 (Late 2024 - Early 2025): "Journey to the Center of the Map." Featured underground battles, a massive sinkhole, and new mobility items like the Grapple Blade.
• Season 2 (March 2025): "Myths & Mortals." Introduced a Pandora's Box theme, granting players god-like powers from Zeus, Hades, and other Greek mythology figures. New weapons like the Thunderbolt of Zeus and Wings of Icarus changed the mobility and combat meta.
• Season 3 (End of 2025): The theme is "Wrecked," introducing a post-apocalyptic vehicle combat focus with customizable cars and a new desert biome. This season is ongoing as of mid-2025.

See also

In Spanish: Fortnite para niños