<P> By November 2013, Epic confirmed that Fortnite would not release that year, nor offered a target released date, though affirmed the game was still in development by several of its studios . Fortnite was a feature in the May 2014 issue of Game Informer, revealing that the title would be released as a free - to - play game . </P> <P> By 2014, Fortnite was at a "pretty functional prototype" with most of the Unreal 4 engine elements smoothed out, according to Mustard . Epic anticipated it would still take about three more years to complete, not only in polishing and balancing the game, but setting in place the necessary backend elements for the games - as - a-service model . To help support development and get player feedback, Epic used a series of closed alpha test periods . The game's first closed alpha, called Online Test 1, ran from December 2 to 19, 2014, while Online Test 2 ran from March 24 to April 14, 2015 . Epic said the first alpha was designed to help it "make sure all of our basic systems are working" and establish "a baseline for how people play in order to make Fortnite better ." After being demoed at WWDC 2015 on Mac, Fortnite entered closed beta testing in the fall of 2015 . Approximately 50,000 players participated in these periods . </P> <P> Fortnite was being developed alongside Paragon, which Epic announced on November 2015 . As Paragon seemed to take Epic's focus, leaving little news about Fortnite, CEO Tim Sweeney said in March 2016 that they were still committed to Fortnite once Paragon was launched and established, given that much of the work on Fortnite would take time to get the right balance for gameplay . "We figure we should start with one major successful launch and do one at a time . Fortnite will be next ." </P> <P> By June 2017, Epic Games announced that Fortnite was now set for a 2018 release across Windows, macOS, and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One consoles . Leading up to this free - to - play release, the game was offered as a paid early access period starting on July 25, 2017 for all platforms; players who pre-ordered Founder's Packs were granted access to the game on July 21 . The lengthy period since the game's alpha phases was ascribed to developing Fortnite as a games - as - a-service model, according to creative lead Donald Mustard . While the game had been in a playable state for the two years before this, Epic wanted to be able to develop ongoing content to players to keep them interested in the title, such as planning timed events with unique rewards, following in the approach used by games like League of Legends and Warframe . Since the game had already been announced earlier in 2014 through Game Informer, Epic opted not to use their Electronic Entertainment Expo time or space in June 2017 to re-announce the game, fearing that coverage of it would be lost in the deluge of other gaming news coming out of the event . Instead, the Epic marketing team worked with Twitch and other game streamers to provide them early copies of the game to play and promote on their channels in the weeks leading up to their target release date of July 25, 2017 . However, a few weeks before this date, Epic recognized that the game was still not ready for release; it was playable but not content complete . Rather than prolonging it further, Epic decided to release the game into paid early access on July 25, 2017, which would also allow them to get active feedback on the game as they progressed in development . At the time of the start of early access, Gearbox Software helped distribute the game on physical media . </P>

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