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Fortnite games
Image via Epic Games

When year did Fortnite come out?

Fortnite has changed the world.

There was more to Fortnite’s release than meets the eye. Technically, Fortnite didn’t leave early access until 2020, and its battle royale mode didn’t appear until far after the game’s original release.

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Originally, Fortnite was meant to be a survival tower defense game. Fortnite: Save the World was supposed to be the concept for the game. Fortnite first entered the battle royale arena when battle royales became more popular. Games such as PUBG, H1Z1, and others were experimenting with the concept and gaining a following for what was essentially a new genre. 

Fortnite release date

An image of a blonde character holding a shotgun in Fortnite
Fortnite has had a long run. Image via Epic Games

Fortnite became available to early access on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Windows, and Mac on July 21, 2017, to players who pre-ordered, and to everyone else on July 25, 2017. On Sept. 26, 2017, Epic Games released Fortnite‘s battle royale mode. The iPhone version released on March 12, 2018. Despite these dates appearing insignificant, Fortnite’s release on so many consoles at the same time made it appealing to players because PUBG and H1Z1 focused on PC. Among the biggest changes of September 2018 was the addition of cross-play, which, at the time, was almost unheard of in gaming.

NICKMERCS, SypherPK, Myth, Tfue, and Ninja played Fortnite since its release, all of which became synonymous with the game. The other streamers have moved on to Apex Legends, Call of Duty: Warzone, and other games. Although Ninja comes back and forth, only SypherPK has remained true to the game that launched their careers.

The popularity of Fortnite also meant that other projects from Epic Games needed to sacrifice some staff.

What happened to the other games Epic Games worked on before Fortnite?

An image of all the heroes in Paragon
Paragon didn’t last long. Image via Epic Games

Epic Games released Paragon, a MOBA competing with League of Legends and Dota 2, in August 2016. As Fortnite gained a player base, Epic needed more staff, and Paragon shut down its servers in April 2018. The staff working on Paragon moved over to Fortnite as the game grew in size and more collabs were announced. 

While Fortnite Battle Royale didn’t kill Fortnite: Save the World, the mode doesn’t get enough attention to grow and change because the staff needs to focus more on battle royale. You can still play Save the World by going into the main menu, scrolling down to game modes, choosing By Epic, and scrolling down until you find it.


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Jorge Aguilar
The Weekend Editor for Dot Esports. Aggy loves the video game industry and loves telling stories. Aside from that, he is an Author, Illustrator, and Computer Animator. https://linktr.ee/SirAggy
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Jerome Heath
Senior editor at Dot Esports. Jerome has been in and around the gaming industry for the last eight years, and he's not going anywhere anytime soon.