Fortnite Battle Royale Matches Could Have Been Much Bigger

Highlights

• Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney reveals that Fortnite had once tested significantly larger matches for the battle royale before its release.
• According to Sweeney, Epic Games had been testing lobbies that would allow for 200 players in a single Fortnite match, with server strain being a main reason for the reduced size.
• Sweeney also shared more insight about the development process of Fortnite, elaborating on the game’s different islands and its growth since 2017.

A recent interview from Epic Games’ CEO Tim Sweeney suggests that Fortnite may have initially planned to feature 200-player matches for its main gameplay. The massively popular battle royale has seen a plethora of new updates and mechanics added to the game throughout the seven years since its initial launch in 2017. Epic Games has debuted several new weapons and mechanics throughout its many events, with crossovers often adding unique weapons to Fortnite. However, new information from an Epic exec reveals that the main gameplay could have looked vastly different.

While Fortnite‘s main gameplay has typically stuck to the 100-man gameplay, Epic Games has often toyed around with different ways to play the game. Fortnite‘s “Reload” game mode, introduced last month, shrinks the size of a lobby, featuring 40 players duking it out with a faster gameplay style. Epic Games also debuted “Zero Build” mode as a new way to play in 2022, removing the game’s building mechanic and putting a heavier focus on Fortnite‘s gunplay. Now, the CEO of Epic Games is sharing more details about a scrapped version of the game.

Epic Games CEO Reveals Fortnite Originally Tested 200-Man Lobbies

As reported by ComicBook, Epic Games’ Tim Sweeney shared more details about an older version of Fortnite that was scrapped before the game’s release. Sweeney claimed that Fortnite was originally testing lobbies that would allow for 200 players in a single match before the battle royale fully launched. According to Sweeney, the main reason for scrapping the potential 200-man matches was due to the strain the sizable matches put on the game’s servers, with Epic’s servers buckling under the immense load. The Epic Games CEO did not confirm how long before launch the larger matches were scrapped.

While Sweeney stressed that Fortnite was not capable of 200-player lobbies at the time, he shared more details about Fortnite‘s development process. Sweeney detailed the reasoning for separating Fortnite‘s content into multiple different islands, with Epic’s servers not able to properly support all the islands as a massive open world. Sweeney’s phrasing also suggested that Epic Games’ present-day servers may be able to support 200-player matches, though Epic Games has not confirmed any details for the game mode.

Though Fortnite‘s 200-man matches may never see the light of day, the battle royale’s crossovers continue to add new content. Fortnite recently debuted its Pirates of the Caribbean crossover, adding multiple skins based on characters like Jack Sparrow and Captain Barbossa. The Fortnite crossover also added several new items to the game, including the “Ship in a Bottle” and “Pirate Cannon” among others. Though 200-man matches may not be in the picture, Fortnite‘s many collaborations continue to bring new experiences to the beloved battle royale.