Fortnite Removing Building Is An Exciting Experiment For Gaming

thegamer.com:

Fortnite is getting rid of building, which feels as much of a core change as Fortnite getting rid of guns. Building is less exciting than the guns, of course, and it's perhaps not what attracts casual players, but it is the thing that makes Fortnite Fortnite. Take away the building elements and it's just another battle royale. You might as well just play Apex Legends, since Fortnite's only other gimmick is that you can play as two different versions of Zendaya, right? I don't think that's true or fair, but it's damn exciting that one of the biggest games on the planet is changing its most basic foundations.

Of course, there are negatives to be found, if you want to look for them. And since it's Fortnite, people do. Getting rid of building might be seen as shaving off some of the more interesting mechanics in order to make the game more approachable - and this is a game already targeting not just mass market appeal, but complete genre saturation. It could be seen as Fortnite getting rid of anything that makes it interesting, unique, or even vaguely experimental. But then isn't this an experiment? Isn't removing one of the things the game is most known for by definition experimental?

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It may result in either the creation of a permanent non-building mode, or in building being taken out altogether. Neither of those seem like major wins for triple-A games daring to think differently, but I don't think that needs to be the benchmark. If Fortnite is prepared to mix it up a bit here, then the game may do something similar in the future, maybe with an even bigger change. For all the criticism Fortnite gets for its reliance on crossovers, it has done its fair