Despite controversy, Fortnite's PUBG-style Battle Royale mode gets off to a flyer
Over one million played day one.
Fortnite's back on the map after the successful launch of its Battle Royale mode.
The game's Battle Royale launched yesterday as a free mode for Xbox One, PlayStation 4 and PC, and according to developer Epic saw over one million players on day one.
Fortnite's Battle Royale was seen as a canny move by Epic. It gazumped the launch of PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds on console and beat its paid-for model by launching without charge.
PUBG developer Bluehole was less than impressed, however. It issued a strongly-worded press release slamming Epic for "replicating" its Steam hit.
Bluehole exec Chang Han Kim said his studio was "concerned" and - ominously - stated it would "contemplate further action".
"We've had an ongoing relationship with Epic Games throughout PUBG's development as they are the creators of [Unreal Engine], the engine we licensed for the game," Kim stated.
"After listening to the growing feedback from our community and reviewing the gameplay for ourselves, we are concerned that Fortnite may be replicating the experience for which PUBG is known.
"We have also noticed that Epic Games references PUBG in the promotion of Fortnite to their community and in communications with the press. This was never discussed with us and we don't feel that it's right."
It might not be right, but Battle Royale has certainly done Fortnite a power of good. At the time of publication, Fortnite had over 33,000 viewers on Twitch, which put it in the top 10 games on the streaming platform.
And Epic seems undeterred by Bluehole's aggressive public comments. It's said it's working on adding new features to Fortnite's Battle Royale, including customisation.