Fortnite Battle Royale - Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing & Fortnite Festival out now.

It's on Amazon Luna, so you don't have to download anything, I might try the racing and music games on the basis that I don't have to do that.

deathofcows wrote:I'm not very abreast of Fortnite stuff but I'm presuming these are games that might not otherwise have existed except for Fortnite collab/part-funding? (a la Bayonetta 2/3 with Nintendo)

And it's probably not as bad as e.g. loading up Dreams to try something?

And they'll likely tempt people into the (apparently, increasingly generous and worthwhile) Fortnite ecosystem as intended (I've downloaded Fortnite that for first time)?

And they're free I'm guessing, which is Because Fortnite?

Might be wrong on some of the above! But though there might be some added friction in accessing it seems to me like it's still a player-positive/generally cool thing happening here?

Bolded I'm sure is very much the intention, which I'm also sure will work, and that annoys me! It's a very transparent attempt to push players into Fortnite rather than having free choice over what to download and play, and that kind of thing I can't help but be cynical about. I don't want to have Fortnite (or any game) pushed at me!

I've not played Dreams but I have played other games built around user generated content (like Little Big Planet) and that's different in that being the deal upfront and in that content coming from other players engaging with the creation tools. The alternative in that situation of someone making a game in Dreams only to have to publish it through the PS store doesn't really make sense. Where it does make sense is when a studio like Psyonix makes a new game.

Yes there will be some financial argument to the approach (I mean of course, that's why Epic are taking it) but could we go as far as saying these games wouldn't exist or be free to play if they weren't made to be included in Fortnite? I'm not convinced, especially in the case of Rocket Racing. Rocket League is a hugely popular standalone free-to-play game, it's not hard to imagine a Psyonix that stayed independent rather than being bought out by Epic putting out a game like Rocket Racing as a standalone free-to-play title.

That is really the example of why it annoys me too. I really like Rocket League and I'd be excited to try a new game from those devs. Finding out I have to download all of Fortnite and jump through it to play (while getting bombarded with microtransactions and the like) really knocks out my enthusiasm.

It's some level of entitlement on my part for sure, but my mind also goes to the extreme case of there being a handful of platform-games like Fortnite that the majority of new games release inside of. Would that be a desirable experience as a player or a desirable position for the industry to be in? I'd say no on both counts.

This approach by Epic is all about friction - decreasing the friction for getting players into their ecosystem, and increasing the friction for players wanting to leave it. For me that's not player-positive.

OrangeXMS wrote:It's more like if Mario Kart was itself a mode inside Smash Bros.

I'm sure there are some file size savings when packaged together but obviously the combination is bigger than if any one of the games was available standalone.

That sounds amazing though

It makes sense to me, most of your skins etc carry over between modes, having a separate app for everything would make everything more cumbersome.

I played with Chalky and Regis last week and it was nice to just seemlessly switch between racing and BR instead of have to all quit and load up a different app.

Edit: referring to OR's post!:

Interesting, and I see what you mean about not wanting a monopoly of 'platform' games in the future - like how nowadays Facebook etc. has become most people's hub unto the rest of the web.

But also: I don't expect exclusive games on Gamepass to come to PS5 or Switch (as the consoles I own), whatever my preference. And I don't think it's wrong that Nintendo game keeps their games to their consoles, or whatever. I also presume the company's involved also made the games for Fortnite not just for financial decisions but for mass, mainstream engagement which is fair for developers making a game. I understand it might be unfortunate that Fortnite holds that kind of exposure power, but it Is something its earned through whatever is good about it? Also given recent decrease in interest in music/peripheral games I wonder if Harmonix could justify a standalone title outside of it being a mode in Fortnite (and one people presumably are happy ultimately exists)? And you Do have free choice to download whatever you want, but the deal is Fortnite are the guys supplying these things, like Sony are the ones supplying their exclusives etc. Would it be different of Fortnite was a console?

Anyway you've made me think about the ultimate situation of different Facebook-esque platform games, and I get that. I'll need to think about it (and I guess actually try it!).

I suppose in general I have a dislike of player entitlement, such as when people Expect companies to deliver a certain amount/variety of games or whatever. Or criticize their choice of (often lucrative, in a competitive market) projects and so on. They don't owe you anything! Even for buying their console! Buy what you want and vote with your choices etc! There are more great games coming out than ever before!

But I am not sophisticated in these matters and your point is also concern of what it leads to for the industry etc which I get. And maybe a lot of those aforementioned smaller great games will ultimately not get played because of it. Hmm.

deathofcows wrote:But also: I don't expect exclusive games on Gamepass to come to PS5 or Switch (as the consoles I own), whatever my preference. And I don't think it's wrong that Nintendo game keeps their games to their consoles, or whatever. I also presume the company's involved also made the games for Fortnite not just for financial decisions but for mass, mainstream engagement which is fair for developers making a game. I understand it might be unfortunate that Fortnite holds that kind of exposure power, but it Is something its earned through whatever is good about it? Also given recent decrease in interest in music/peripheral games I wonder if Harmonix could justify a standalone title outside of it being a mode in Fortnite (and one people presumably are happy ultimately exists)? And you Do have free choice to download whatever you want, but the deal is Fortnite are the guys supplying these things, like Sony are the ones supplying their exclusives etc. Would it be different of Fortnite was a console?

The point is that everything in Fortnite is a single package. Yes, it might be their exclusives, but when talking of Gamepass and console exclusives, you still have the ability to CHOOSE what part of all those exclusives you want. With Fortnite, there is no choice. You download everything, whether you want it or not. New things get added to it? Tough. You have to have them. At least with Gamepass you can delete something off your console if you're done with it.

To use that example OR stated above, with Smash and Mario Kart, at present you can buy both. Each takes up space, but you can choose which one you want. If Smash was a platform, and one day Nintendo added Mario Kart to it, there's no choice in it taking up space. It will. End of. Your only options then are to keep everything or lose everything. Then say they added a strategy game like Fire Emblem, a sports game like Wii Sports Resort, and a Mario-like platformer. Again, no choice in that, whereas the system as Nintendo currently runs it means there is a choice in what you want on your system.

Should more companies take up the Fortnite approach, it locks you into a loyalty with one platform deeper than what a console currently offers. And the other killer is needing to always be online to access that platform. So if one to be so bloated you could have nothing else on your system storage, and your internet goes out, you've got nothing.

DarkRula wrote:

deathofcows wrote:But also: I don't expect exclusive games on Gamepass to come to PS5 or Switch (as the consoles I own), whatever my preference. And I don't think it's wrong that Nintendo game keeps their games to their consoles, or whatever. I also presume the company's involved also made the games for Fortnite not just for financial decisions but for mass, mainstream engagement which is fair for developers making a game. I understand it might be unfortunate that Fortnite holds that kind of exposure power, but it Is something its earned through whatever is good about it? Also given recent decrease in interest in music/peripheral games I wonder if Harmonix could justify a standalone title outside of it being a mode in Fortnite (and one people presumably are happy ultimately exists)? And you Do have free choice to download whatever you want, but the deal is Fortnite are the guys supplying these things, like Sony are the ones supplying their exclusives etc. Would it be different of Fortnite was a console?

The point is that everything in Fortnite is a single package. Yes, it might be their exclusives, but when talking of Gamepass and console exclusives, you still have the ability to CHOOSE what part of all those exclusives you want. With Fortnite, there is no choice. You download everything, whether you want it or not. New things get added to it? Tough. You have to have them. At least with Gamepass you can delete something off your console if you're done with it.

To use that example OR stated above, with Smash and Mario Kart, at present you can buy both. Each takes up space, but you can choose which one you want. If Smash was a platform, and one day Nintendo added Mario Kart to it, there's no choice in it taking up space. It will. End of. Your only options then are to keep everything or lose everything. Then say they added a strategy game like Fire Emblem, a sports game like Wii Sports Resort, and a Mario-like platformer. Again, no choice in that, whereas the system as Nintendo currently runs it means there is a choice in what you want on your system.

Should more companies take up the Fortnite approach, it locks you into a loyalty with one platform deeper than what a console currently offers. And the other killer is needing to always be online to access that platform. So if one to be so bloated you could have nothing else on your system storage, and your internet goes out, you've got nothing.

Also interesting, thanks for reply!

Will be interested to see how plays out

Just checking in to see if anyone is still playing the BR mode on the regular on XB/PS? I play mostly zero build, and I get on fairly well in solo mode. However, I'm getting a bit tired of the crap-shoot that is Trio's or Squads. One minute you can be with a great team who agree on where to land, support each other, and stick together. The next match each person is in different areas of the map or charging into a boss area and getting annihilated and then rage-quit when the inevitable happens. Unfortunately, 9/10 times it's the latter.

So with the release of the TNMT pack I'm getting a bit jealous of co-ordinated teams who are clearly online friends and are working together. Anyone up for it? Voice chat isn't a requirement at all - just good pinging and teamwork! Also fine with ranked or unranked