Fortnite is a free-to-play video game platform developed by Epic Games. Fortnite originally was developed as the cooperative player-versus-environment survival game, Fortnite Save the World, released in July 2017. The game's development shifted significantly following the beta release of the Fortnite Battle Royale in September 2017, a battle royale game where 100 players compete to be the last player standing. After dropping from an airborne Battle Bus onto an island featuring several points of interest (POIs), players gather various weapons and gear. During a round of gameplay, a harmful storm front periodically shrinks while moving across the map, drawing players into smaller areas on the island.
This new mode proved exceptionally popular, drawing large numbers of players. With Fortnite Battle Royales success, Epic expanded the Fortnite platform to include other games and user-created modes built atop Unreal Engine and the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) system.
Since December 2017, Fortnite has included seasonal content purchasable via the battle pass, with various cosmetic rewards. Each season lasts for two to three months. Starting towards the end of the third season in April 2018, Epic began introducing a narrative structure to their seasons, to explain changes to the island and to introduce new licensed cosmetic items. Fortnite has conducted continuous collaborations, such as with Disney, Marvel, and Star Wars themed seasons.
By 2025, the Fortnite platform supported the Epic-developed games Fortnite Battle Royale, Fortnite: Save the World, Lego Fortnite, Fortnite Festival, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Ballistic, along with user-created games in Fortnite Creative and Fall Guys.
Background To monetize the game, Epic Games had built an in-game storefront to offer cosmetics in the form of character skins, emotes, and other customization items for the player to use with their game avatar for Fortnite Battle Royale, using "V-Bucks" as the form of in-game currency to make these purchases. In December 2017, Epic Games introduced a purchasable battle pass that featured numerous customization items earnable through gameplay, along with V-Bucks. The battle passes are time-limited and can only be completed during the current Chapter, typically over three to four months, with Chapter 1 representing all content from September 2017 to the launch of the Chapter and battle pass system in December 2017.
Initially, each Chapter brought about changes to the layout of the island. With the launch of Season 4 in May 2018, Epic Games used a series of in-game events to tease a narrative structure that would be used for all future seasons, and used further in-game events to explain changes to the island's map. Chief creative officer Donald Mustard explained that the idea of including narrative had been part of the concept of Fornite Battle Royale from the start, but because the game is primarily a multiplayer game, determining how to introduce story element had been difficult. Epic found that driving toward large, end-of-chapter events would lead to changes in the island in the next season.
Prior to the start of Chapter 2 in October 2019, Epic also introduced character skins and cosmetics based on licensed characters. Since then, Epic has broken the storyline into Chapters grouping several seasons, with each season adding further crossover content from other licensed properties.
A side-mode, Fortnite OG, began in December 2024 and progressed through the first chapter of Battle Royale, offering the original experience with some newer quality-of-life changes.
Seasonal content
Chapter 1 Season Period DescriptionCollaborations Season1 ("First Steps") (OG: "The OG OG Returns") Battle Royale:September December 2017OG:December 2024 January 2025 Retroactively considered the first season of the first chapter upon the start of the chapter's second season. Season2 ("Fort Knights") (OG: "Go Full Tilt") Battle Royale:December 2017 February 2018OG:January March 2025Medieval themed. The battle pass, which initially had 70 tiers, was introduced. A mid-season update added 5 new locations, including Tilted Towers. Season3 ("Meteor Strike") (OG: "Brace for Impact") Battle Royale:February April 2018OG:March June 2025 Space exploration themed. The Battle Pass was increased from 70 tiers to 100. During the season, players had observed shooting stars crossing the Island, which later became small meteorites that struck the surface. A larger meteor also became visible, beginning a crash course towards the Island. Season4 ("Brace for Impact") (OG: "Prepare for Launch") Battle Royale:May July 2018OG:June August 2025 Superhero themed. Superhero and villain bases appeared on the Island, later revealed to be part of a movie set. For a limited time, players could play as or fight against Thanos as part of a collaboration event with Marvel. The large meteor wiped out Dusty Depot, leaving behind a large crater. Inside, a mysterious pod was found that contained a character known as "The Visitor", who then raided the villain base to steal a prop rocket. Using meteor remnants from the crater, the Visitor turned the prop into a real rocket, which launched and created a massive interdimensional rift above the Island.
OG: An "alternate" version of the Visitor arrived on the island instead. Right before the rocket launched, a red rift butterfly appeared. The resulting rift above the Island ended up being colored red. Season 5 ("Worlds Collide") Battle Royale:July September 2018OG:August October 2025 The next few days following the rocket launch saw the rift growing increasingly larger, bringing in objects from other realities while also causing some native items to vanish. One of these items, a Durrr Burger head, ended up in the real world. The southeastern corner of the map was turned into a desert, and smaller rifts began to appear as a new gameplay feature, teleporting players into the sky. Near the end of the season, the massive rift closed, but not before transporting a large purple Cube to the Island. This Cube, nicknamed "Kevin" by the players, rolled around the Island before sinking into Loot Lake, leaving behind a trail of corruption and turning the lake purple.
OG: Certain objects were rifted into other Fortnite game modes, such as the Durrr Burger head instead ending up in the Blitz reality. As the now-red rift closed, it instead transported a large red Cube, internally named "Revin," to the island. It followed the same path as Kevin had, before sinking into Loot Lake, turning it red. Season 6 ("Darkness Rises") Battle Royale:September December 2018OG:October November 2025 Corruption themed. The island at the center of Loot Lake rose into the sky due to the effects of the Cube, which traveled to multiple locations across the larger Island before returning to Loot Lake and opening a portal in the sky, allowing hostile "Cube Monsters" to appear on the Island. In a live event, the overloaded Cube exploded, transporting everyone to a realm known as the "In-Between". A rift-shaped Butterfly appeared, which returned the players back onto the Island. Loot Lake had been mostly restored to normal, with the exception of the appearance of tiny landmasses. Before the end of the season, a large iceberg was spotted on the southwestern corner of the Island.
OG: The floating Loot Lake island's cube returned to being purple like it originally had. As portal was opening, red and purple corruption could be seen in the house in the floating island. During the live event, Revin could be spotted in the "In-Between." Season 7 ("You Better Watch Out") Battle Royale:December 2018 February 2019OG:December 2025 March 2026 Winter themed. The iceberg collided with the Island, blanketing a third of the map in snow. Fortnite Creative launched, and players could design their own square-shaped location to appear on the island located at The Block, replacing Risky Reels. The iceberg itself began to thaw as the season progressed, revealing a large castle inhabited by the Ice King, who then cast a spell that unleashed a winter storm across the entire Island. A virtual concert performed by Marshmello occurred in February. At the end of the season, the Ice King's prisoner escaped and created a large volcano on the northeast corner of the map, reclaiming his powers of the Fire King. The volcano's appearance caused earthquakes that rocked the Island, creating fissures in the ground.
OG: The Block's inclusion was omitted in OG, so it simply fell off the north side of the island, sparing Risky Reels. The Ice King took on a new form later seen in Chapter 7: Season 2. Season 8 ("X Marks the Spot") Battle Royale:February May 2019OG:April June 2026 Pirate themed. After the volcano had drastically altered the landscape of the Island in the northeast, launching The Block westwards and crashing into a motel, digging sites were established that would later uncover a Vault underneath Loot Lake. Over time, the Vault gained power through the use of five mysterious runes that acted on their own accord. In the meanwhile, Thanos returned for another limited-time Marvel event. In the "Unvaulting" live event, players entered the Vault to vote on one of six items to be reintroduced into the game. Inside, the Vault houses the Zero Point, an orb of pure energy created by the Big Bang, serving as the core of all of reality. After the Drum Gun won the vote, the volcano erupted, scattering debris in the air which would ultimately destroy Tilted Towers and Retail Row, and cause damage to the iceberg.
OG: The Block was launched further west and crashed on a hill, sparing the motel. The Dark Harvester, a spaceship first seen in Chapter 7, briefly appeared and scanned Loot Lake, before leaving through a golden rift. During the event, players instead voted for the Infinity Blade previously only present in Season 7. Season 9 ("The Future Is Yours") Battle Royale: May July 2019
OG:June September 2026Futuristic themed. The locations that were destroyed by the volcanic eruption were reconstructed with futuristic technology through the use of the Zero Point's power, with Tilted Towers becoming Neo Tilted and Retail Row becoming Mega Mall. The damage to the iceberg caused a monster known as the Devourer to escape into the waters surrounding the Island. With the help of the Zero Point's guardian Singularity, drones inside the volcano's caldera constructed a giant mech called the "Mecha Team Leader". In a live event, Mecha activated and engaged the Devourer, but ended up getting overpowered. Severely damaged, Mecha was forced to pull the Zero Point out of the Vault to regain power before using a sword hidden in Neo Tilted to kill the Devourer. Mecha flew off into space, leaving the Devourer's corpse and a severely damaged Zero Point behind, which exploded at the end of the season. Season X ("Out of Time") Battle Royale: August October 2019
OG: September December 2026 Time travel themed. The Zero Point's explosion caused a shift in space-time on the Island, bringing the previously destroyed Dusty Depot to the present. As a result of Dusty Depot's return, the meteor that destroyed it was frozen in time in the present. A character named "The Scientist" emerged from the meteor, who was part of a group known as "the Seven" alongside the Visitor. To bring the remaining members of the Seven to the Island, the Scientist created rift zones across the Island, bringing in regions from other universes (like Borderlands' Pandora and DC's Gotham City).