Fortnite leaving early access, Save the World won't be free-to-play

Epic has shared a detailed update about its plans for Fortnite and Save the World.

Those of you who have been following Fortnite since the beginning will know that the game launched as a co-op focused experience, with the uber-successful Battle Royale mode added later once PUBG had demonstrated the genre's burgeoning popularity. Now, almost three years after Fortnite: Save the World first landed, Epic has finally decided to ditch the game's "early access" tags, and that extends across all aspects of the game.

In a detailed update over on the official site, Epic outlined its plans for Save the World and the implications of those plans. If you're a regular player we recommend reading the whole thing, but here's a quick recap if all you want is the broad-strokes.

Importantly, the studio has decided not to take this portion of the game free-to-play, and it will remain a paid-for product (with upgrades given to Founders, and the new Metal Team Leader Pack and 8,000 V-Bucks for Ultimate Edition owners). All legacy in-game items will work across both portions of the game, however, at a still to be determined point that will no longer be the case, so stay tuned for more on that if you regularly switch between BR and STW.

Epic is also adding Ventures, which are season-long events where players earn experience in seasonal zones with new modifiers added to ramp up the challenge further. The better you do, the bigger challenges you'll find, with new weapons and seasonal rewards to aim for. High-level play will also be rewarded with Supercharger materials that can extend the capabilities of your gear beyond its existing level cap. Expect more details on that front closer to launch.

We also got first details of the structural changes coming to Save the World, with a shift to an "annual recurring seasonal schedule where existing in-game narratives and events, such as Frostnite and Dungeons, will continue on a seasonal rotation unique to Save the World." Heroes, schematics and questlines will then rotate in and out of play, with new content added at a slower pace.

Are you still playing Save the World?