‘Fortnite’ opens up to iOS masses
Image: youtube.com/epicfortnite via AFP Relaxnews
Hit last-person-standing game “Fortnite” has dropped its invite-only aspect on iOS, opening up to all iOS users.
Having stepped onto Apple’s app store midway through March, “Fortnite” is ditching an invitation system in order to open its doors to all comers.
Hence iOS players will be able to download the app and play immediately, rather than needing to receive an additional invite from a friend or contact.
The game follows the format of the Battle Royale genre popularized by “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds”.
Up to 100 players leap from an airborne vehicle, dropping down into an explorable environment, searching for caches of weapons and equipment.
Over the course of the round, and whether solo or in squads of up to four, players are pushed closer and closer together as the play space contracts.
The round ends when one person or one team remains.
Where “PUBG” is a retail game on Windows PC and Xbox One, “Fortnite” differentiates itself by adhering to a free-to-play model across PlayStation 4, Windows PC, Xbox One and iOS.
For that reason, its revenue is derived from purchases of a virtual currency, V-Bucks, with which players can then purchase alternative outfits for their in-game characters as well as enhanced access to season-long events.
It also incorporates a construction feature that lets players rapidly throw up fortifications and makeshift ramps.
In addition, players can join their friends on other platforms, if they choose to create a squad together.
Android owners are still waiting for a native version of “Fortnite” for their devices. When it launches, “Fortnite” will be only the second Android app published by Epic Games on the Google Play Store, after “Battle Breakers” arrived early in 2017.
In the meantime, “PUBG Mobile” launched as an English-language iOS and Android app in March, following an Android debut in Chinese, while Chinese internet firm NetEase, which provided “Rules of Survival” and “Knives Out” as popular unofficial alternatives before the “PUBG” mobile debut, has been working away at “FortCraft” which is currently in testing on both mobile platforms. JB
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