Epic Games’ most epic game Fortnite, recently announced that they’re adding a new mode. Standard practice for service games which crank out a steady stream each year of new weapons, special events, and flashy new skins. But the new mode has some fans metaphorically shouting obscenities from their hastily constructed ivory towers. Fortnite is no stranger to causing interpersonal strife, it is after all, involved in a shocking number of divorces. So why are fans so mad about this?
After the announcement of “Zero Build”, fans are divided about whether to rejoice, or to be totally pissed off. The new mode does not include building and a lot of players worry that this will water down the game. The argument that having a standard battle royale mode, where players use weapons, vehicles, and strategic map use to defeat opponents without building, takes away the soul of Fortnite is definitely worth considering.
Epic Games
Being able to blast people away as Aquaman or dance with Beastboy on the bodies of your enemies is fun, but not a fundamentally different gameplay loop to other battle royales. People have been debating whether BR games are a dying breed for years, so taking away the one thing that differentiates Fortnite, building, might seem like a bad move.