‘Fortnite: Battle Royale’ Adds Duos And Supply Drops As Player Count Passes 7 Million


Fortnite: Battle Royale, the free competitor to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, received a new update Wednesday that adds a pair of anticipated features combined with a weapon accuracy update. Developer Epic Games also announced a player milestone for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC last man standing shooter.

A four-man squad mode was added to Fortnite: Battle Royale when the game went free-to-play a couple of weeks ago. Players can now group up in pairs with the addition of the Duos mode.

The Duos playlist is available in “most regions,” according to Epic Games. Obviously, this means regions with substantial player bases like North America and Europe. It’s not clear at the moment what regions did not make the cut, as the studio states it doesn’t want adding a new playlist to “make the experience less enjoyable.”

Meanwhile, Fortnite: Battle Royale players can now compete over Supply Drops for the best weapons and gear in the game. The contents of the Supply Drop can include Legendary or higher quality weapons along with traps, ammo, and consumables like a shield potion.

These Supply Drops will fall randomly from the sky by balloon during a match. It’s not always the best to be the first one to reach one of these crates as other players may be lying in wait for an ambush.

[Image by Epic Games]

Epic Games also took some time to discuss how weapon accuracy has progressed in the game. The main problem is Fortnite: Battle Royale uses a started with hitscan hit detection system instead of modeling true bullet physics. This resulted in players being sniped from across the map while crossing an open area and players using pistols to snipe as well.

This led to damage fall-off based on distance being added to Fortnite’s weapon systems along with weapon accuracy to force closer engagements. This is to prevent pistol sniping and to give weapons different characteristics based on distance to target, target type, and ammo available.

Going forward, Epic Games is looking at making incremental improvements to weapons like the Assault Rifle and SMGs. Additionally, the developers are considering ways to make it more obvious how accuracy is affected by standing still or kneeling along with aiming versus hip-firing.

Fortnite: Battle Royale players should also expect more adjustments to recoil and how accuracy is affected across multiple shots. The developers at Epic are also looking at adding true bullet physics to more weapons in the game beyond the sniper rifle.

The good news is Epic plans to add PTR servers to Fortnite: Battle Royale in the near future. This is well-used in other games from Overwatch to PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds(PUBG).

On the player count front, Fortnite: Battle Royale has crossed the 7 million player mark per a Wednesday announcement on Twitter. This shouldn’t be terribly surprising as the game is free and has been released across three platforms. By comparison, PUBG is past 11 million players on a single platform and it costs $30 to play. Still, this is a strong start for Fortnite: Battle Royale after just a couple of weeks.

[Featured Image by Epic Games]

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