<P> Ultimately, Epic was able to prepare to release Fortnite as a paid early access title in July 2017, with plans to release it as free - to - play sometime in 2018 while gaining feedback from players to improve the game . With the release of Fortnite Battle Royale, the player - versus - environment mode was distinguished as "Save the World". </P> <P> Near the same time that Epic released Fortnite into early access, PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds had become a worldwide phenomenon, having sold over 5 million copies three months from its March 2017 release, and drawing strong interest in the battle royale genre . Epic recognized that with the Fortnite base game, they could also do a battle royale mode, and rapidly developed their own version atop Fortnite in about two months . By September 2017, Epic was ready to release this as a second mode from "Save the World" in the paid - for earlier access, but then later decided to release it as a free game, Fortnite Battle Royale, supported with microtransactions . This version quickly gained players, with over 10 million players during its first two weeks of release, and leading Epic to create separate teams to continue the Fortnite Battle Royale development apart from the "Save the World" mode, outside of common engine elements and art assets . This allowed Fortnite Battle Royale to expand to other platforms otherwise not supported by the "Save the World" mode, including iOS and Android mobile devices and the Nintendo Switch . </P> <P> With both modes of Fortnite still considered to be early access, journalists have yet to provide comprehensive reviews of either mode . </P> <P> The Save the World mode achieved over one million players by August 2017, just prior to the release of Battle Royale . </P>

When did fortnite battle royale come out on pc