Nintendo revealed during its press conference prior to the E3 gaming convention that you can download Fortnite for free on the Nintendo Switch, immediately. The only other information provided during this Fortnite-themed portion of Nintendo’s show was provided through a new trailer revealing how you can drop into the game anywhere you want thanks to the portability of the Nintendo Switch.
We presume this “free” version of Fortnite is the Battle Royale edition served up on all the other platforms without cost. To get the Standard edition packed with a campaign, you’ll be required to provide cash – around $40 for the Standard version, depending on the platform, and $10 more for the Deluxe edition. Of course, most people play for the battle royale mode, not the campaign.
The trailer reveals that local co-op requires more than one Nintendo Switch. At the beginning, you parachute into the scene only to be shot down by other players on the field. Other examples shown during the clip is a fun session of soccer, pushing friends on shopping carts, spraying graffiti on walls, and more.
Created by Painkiller developer People Can Fly and Gears of War developer Epic Games, Fortnite is a multiplayer sandbox survival game that mixes Left 4 Dead with Minecraft, requiring players to build bases to fend off hordes of zombie-like monsters. The campaign’s goal is to protect what’s remaining of humanity after a worldwide storm wipes out most of the human population and creates the now-hungry monsters chasing the survivors.
In Battle Royale mode, a single battleground hosts up to 100 players as they drop in and kill each other to become the last player standing. During the battle, there are “safe zones” that continue to shrink, and players can gather resources to create fortified bases to stay alive. Weapons and armor must be confiscated from the environment or other players.
Originally, Battle Royale was a multiplayer mode within the premium Fortnite game, but Epic decided to bring this mode to the forefront as a free-to-play aspect of Fortnite given the surging popularity of Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds. With the help of Battle Royale, Fortnite‘s popularity has grown to the point where Epic Games retired its other free-to-play shooter, Paragon.
Given the flexibility of the Nintendo Switch, owners can play Fortnite any way they want, wherever they want (and where there’s an internet connection). You can play the game in the native handheld form, connect a wireless Pro controller, or set the display on a table and play with the motion controllers.
Fortnite is available now for free on the Nintendo Switch.
