Fortnite has been on all Windows operating systems starting with Windows 7, since its release in 2017. But the latest rumors indicate Chapter Four, season two of Fortnite will stop supporting Windows 7 and 8 and that players will need to use at least Windows 10 to continue playing the game.
Fortnite content creator and data miner, iFireMonkey, revealed earlier today that starting with Fortnite Chapter Four, season two, players will need to use at least Windows 10 to play the game. With season two, Windows 7 and 8 are reportedly retiring from minimum system requirements.
This was confirmed by Epic Games in its post Drop into the Next Generation of Fortnite today, which goes into detail about why the game is moving on to Unreal Engine 5.1 and what it means for the game. The most likely reason for Epic Games retiring these two systems from Fortnite is because starting with Chapter Four, season one, the game is using the latest features of Unreal Engine 5.1. The goal of moving the entire game to a new engine is to increase visual fidelity and make the game more flowing for average users. This will include new virtual shadow maps, reflections, and global illuminations. With that in mind, you’ll need to have a stronger PC.
Here are the new minimum and recommended specifications to run the game smoothly:
New minimum PC specifications
- GPU:
- NVIDIA: Maxwell-generation cards or newer
- AMD: GCN-generation cards or newer
- NVIDIA: Maxwell-generation cards or newer
- Latest graphics drivers
- Operating system:
- Windows 10 version 1909.1350 or newer, with support for DirectX 12 Agility SDK
- Windows 11
- Windows 10 version 1909.1350 or newer, with support for DirectX 12 Agility SDK
- Direct X version:
- DirectX 12
New recommended PC specifications
- GPU:
- NVIDIA: GeForce RTX 2080 or newer
- AMD: Radeon RX 5700 or newer
- Latest graphics drivers
- Operating system:
- Latest Windows 10 version, with support for DirectX 12 Agility SDK
- Latest Windows 11 version
- Direct X version:
- DirectX 12
