In this GDC 2018 session, Epic Games' Ed Zobrist discusses the unique challenges of launching Fortnite and goes into the strategy and impact of adding the wildly successful Battle Royale mode.
In the talk, Zobrist explains how Fortnite spent over five years in development and lays out the production timeline of the game, noting how on July 25, 2017, Epic Games launched Fortnite as a paid Early Access title.
By August over 1 million people had played Fortnite, and Epic released the free Battle Royale mode on September 25. By December, over 40 million people had played Fortnite. Zobrist also describes how Epic chose a launch plan that, while unconventional, was still consistent with core marketing strategies.
It's an informative talk that's definitely worth watching, so developers shouldn't miss the opportunity to do so now that it's freely available on the official GDC YouTube channel!