Epic Games has revealed a 50-versus-50 mode in the Fortnite Battle Royale, but only for a limited time. In the new mode, which is available until Dec. 17, players can select a maximum of four friends for forming a squad and merge them into a random team of 50 players.
50-versus-50 mode – what it is?
All those on the players side would wear a green chevron over their heads. A player would not be affected by friendly fire, and they would be able to help friends who are hit but not finished. The game would continue until one side is completely eliminated.
Fortnite Battle Royale 50-versus-50 mode was launched during the Game Awards, where the developer stated that the new game would encourage new and unusual uses of the Fortnite’s building mechanics. A teaser of the new mode was also released, showing one team hiding behind the wood and brick barricade, defending against the attackers from the other team.
Speaking to Eurogamer, Fornite system designer Eric Williamson revealed a little bit more about the mode.
“There’s no friendly fire, you’ll see a chevron above your allies so you’ll know they are on your team and you’ll be able to revive down but not out players on your team,” Williamson said.
Williamson said the team has been continuously coming up with a “gameplay-affecting item or system every week.” It is important to keep “meta changing” on a regular basis, Williamson said, adding that they brought in smoke grenades last week, and before that, bush consumable entered the game.
“We think 50 vs 50 isn’t the only cool mode we can release – there are a lot of other ideas out there which could be fun. So we don’t want to – just yet – commit to having it on all the time,” the executive said. However, Williamson noted that the “core game will still be our meat and potatoes – we don’t want to replace that.”
Fortnite Battle Royale growing popular
Fortnite came up with Battle Royale mode in September, where players come out of the floating battle bus. Players have a glider and a pickax to defend themselves to win the game. A player can select from a range of weapons, set traps and even destroy the whole environment. According to Epic, the game now boasts of 30 million players since the launch of its early access in July. Last weekend, over 1.3 million players were playing it concurrently (across Xbox One, PS4 and PC).
It was the PlayerUnknown’s Battleground (PUBG), which fanned this style of gaming around the world. However, in Fortnite, players do not need to hide behind the objects already in there, rather they can build their own objects to shield against their enemies using the game’s building mechanics.
Meanwhile, PUBG will release in full capacity status coming out of the early access mode on Dec. 20. PUBG has stood by its promise of releasing the title in full status before the year ends. Before the full release, the developer also released a new map, called Miramar, during the Game Awards on Thursday. Miramar would be smaller than Erandel, Battlegrounds’s original map, with both urban and rural patches and tall buildings.
