Fortnite is by far the most popular game in the world, creating a bigger cultural splash than even Minecraft was able to. However, with that splash comes fierce competition, and while Fortnite has managed to thwart most up-and-comers, Respawn’s Apex Legends poses a legitimate threat to the king of Battle Royale, passing certain milestones at a much faster rate than Fortnite was able to. Since then, Fortnite has “adopted” some of Apex Legends’ most appealing features, which is a good thing.
Fortnite’s newest updates have brought with them some great features, including a ping system nearly identical to the one featured in Apex Legends. The ability helps teammates communicate without having a microphone, which is very important in a game that requires an understanding of what a player’s comrades intend to do. While it may be ripped-off from Apex Legends, it’s a good quality of life feature that enhances team play, especially among random teams.
For Fortnite to survive in a market with increasingly stiff competition, it needs to continue to adopt features found in its competitors, as well as continue to develop its own unique twists. It appears that the developers intend to do so, as the game may also be getting a respawn feature soon, according to a recent Reddit AMA and a bug that made special vans appear while using the game’s replay features. It’s another feature that gained popularity in Apex Legends, but an equally welcome update to Fortnite.
The point is, Fortnite taking ideas from its competitors and applying them to itself is ultimately a good thing. It keeps the game feeling fresh and will likely spur some new original features being added to the game as well, which would then give other developers something to consider adding to their respective titles. At the end of the day, copying features from other popular titles is something developers have been doing for a long time across many different games, from Super Mario Bros. all the way to Call of Duty. Innovation tends to drive further innovation, and hopefully, that remains to be the case for Fortnite and beyond.
Fortnite is available now for PC, PS4, Xbox One, IOS, Android, and Switch.
