While the scope of layoffs has stunned employees, industry analysts have told IGN that cost-reduction within Epic Games was inevitable amid growing external pressures and costly industry battles.
While the scope of layoffs has stunned employees, industry analysts have told IGN that cost-reduction within Epic Games was inevitable amid growing external pressures and costly industry battles.
I checked out of Fortnite when the brand partnerships started. I really liked the first few seasons though…
It felt like the game had a strong identity that was challenging PUBG’s nonsense. No complicated inventory, just 5 slots. 1 or 2 weapons per category with very well defined playstyles, no incomprehensibly complicated weapon mod system on top. Building is very cool and raises the skill ceiling so high too !
And the style was cartoony and silly : you don’t get cars, you get shopping carts ! Characters have no voices, the “laugh” is a donkey sound !
But when the brand deals started coming, they started wilfully throwing away their identity to replace it with recognizable IP. So I quit.
I used to play it quite a bit in beta and early release, and then checked back in in 2021 when they had already done a lot of brand partnerships. You’re right on the dot. They completely removed the game’s identity. I found it funny you mention the golf carts, because when I played it, the first match my team of randoms landed next to some cars (from rocket league I think) and just spent the entire game doing stunts to earn points. There was zero interaction with the core gameplay loop. It was crazy.