Epic Games releases the latest update for Fortnite that introduced new features and revealed its plans for releasing competitive features sometime in the fall.
Fortnite recently released a new update today that introduced several features that fans of the game have been asking for including the ability to “Thank the Bus Driver,” which has been previously petitioned by players of the game earlier this summer. Now, Epic Games revealed that new competitive features are bound to be included in the game and will roll out sometime this fall.
“We are aware of a strong desire from competitive players for more opportunities to compete directly against one another within the same match,” Epic Games said in a blog post. “Development recently began for a robust competition system which will allow for all players to compete with one another and be recognized for their accomplishments.”
Epic explained that the weekly Summer Skirmish has proven to be a valid testing ground that provided a high-stakes environment for competitive players to showcase their skills in the game. Moreover, Epic revealed that improvements had been made to the Live Spectating functionality that allows POV cameras to monitor the action when spectating a specific player closely. The developer promised that changes would also be made to features such as map overheads, scoreboards, and drone cameras in the coming weeks.
Lastly, Epic revealed that the studio learned a lot based on experiments they have done with “scoring schemes and formats, attempting to find the best balance between simplicity, entertainment, server performance, and competitive integrity.” The developer assured players that it would continue to support competitive events after the conclusion of the Summer Skirmish and in preparation for next year’s Fortnite World Cup.
After the release of the recent update, players began to notice lightning strikes coming directly from rifts in-game, leading to speculations on how those strikes would affect Fortnite overall. The most prominent theory is that the lighting strikes shared a similar pattern in Save the World mode, which would probably mean that the mode will become free-to-play by the end of the season. Currently, Epic has not spoken about this mysterious phenomenon happening in the rifts, so its best to wait for an official confirmation.
Fortnite is currently available in early access for iOS, Nintendo Switch, PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, with an Android beta presently taking place.
