Start transforming your game’s economy and increase your bottom line. Get the free guide now. Elevate your enterprise data technology and strategy at Transform 2021. Fortnite’s Tilted Towers didn’t stay dead for long. In the new season that starts today, developer Epic Games revealed that the beloved loot-filled location is back as Neo Tilted, bringing the rest of the game into a future featuring shiny new buildings and mechanized pets. Fortnite is the biggest game in the world. The free-to-play multiplayer shooter has earned more than $1 billion, leading to huge investments in Epic and allowing the company to put that extra money into other efforts — such as the Epic Games Store (and its 88/12 revenue split with developers) and the recent acquisition of Rocket League studio Psyonix. In addtion to having a host of new emotes, weapon and character skins, and other cosmetic items (unlockable via the game’s Battle Pass progression system), Season 9 also introduces a collectible called Fortbytes. Players must decipher cryptic clues to find these microchip-like items scattered throughout the island. Gathering Fortbytes will unlock even more rewards and secrets. Seasonal content updates in Fortnite is Epic’s way of making the game feel fresh and interesting for its console, PC, and mobile players. Fans also look forward to a new season (which lasts for around two months) because the updates usually change the map in some way. Season 8 introduced an active volcano, and the eruption of that volcano caused the futuristic world players now see in Season 9. These world-changing events create a loose but ongoing narrative that fans (and the streamers and video creators that cover the game) love to obsess over. However, creating these frequent updates have come at a personal cost for some members of the dev team. According to a lengthy report from Polygon, Fortnite’s success led to a “toxic, stressful environment” at Epic. You can read the full patch notes for Season 9 here. The state of battle royale According to two different case studies, Fortnite is still the most-viewed game online, even with the explosive rise of battle royale competitors Apex Legends and Call of Duty Blackout. It’s the kind of resiliency made possible by a player base that is 250 million strong. And Epic always tries to make sure that Fortnite stays in the popular consciousness, whether it’s through esports competitions, movie tie-ins, or seasonal updates. Coincidentally, Season 9’s sci-fi theme brings Fortnite a little closer to its two closest rivals: both Apex Legends and Call of Duty Blackout are sci-fi shooters. But it’s not a huge overlap, as the new update still retains Fortnite’s playful cartoon-like aesthetic.<doc-sep>Last week’s volcanic eruption left Tilted Towers in ruins, but now Fortnite’s season 9 patch has arrived to usher in the future. Along with some high-tech rebuilds of fan-favorite locations, there is also a host of gameplay changes coming in this patch, including one of the biggest shotgun changes ever. Major Map Changes The first thing most players will notice when they hop into a game on patch v9.0 is just how different the map is now. Gone is Tilted Towers and in its place stands Neo Tilted, a futuristic city that’s less cramped than its modern day counterpart. Also new to the season 9 map is Mega Mall — which replaced the recently volcano-ed Retail Row — and the new Pressure Plant that’s been built on the volcano after its eruption. The new Slipstream is another map-related change, which gives players a brand-new mobility option. The stream is a fixed path of wind that players can hop into to be pushed to other places on the map. It runs in, roughly, a big circle around the center of the map and players can move around in it to adjust their speed, hopping out at any time. R.I.P. Pump Shotgun On the gameplay front, this patch is one of the biggest season openers in recent memory. Grenades are back in the game, while Clingers, Buried Treasure, Poison Dart Traps, Scoped Revolvers, Suppressed Assault Rifles, Thermal Assault Rifles, and Balloons have all been vaulted. Also vaulted, in a shocking turn, is Fortnite’s iconic Pump Shotgun. Arguably the weapon the game is most known for, the Pump is being replaced by a new shotgun called the Combat Shotgun. The Combat Shotgun only comes in Rare, Epic, and Legendary varieties, and will shoot faster, do less damage, and have a bigger magazine than the Pump. For a look at everything that’s coming with Fortnite’s season 9 update you can look at the full patch notes below. WEAPONS + ITEMS Added Combat Shotgun Semi-Automatic Holds 10 Shells. Fires 9 pellets per shot for 73 / 77 / 81 base damage. Tight spread and fast fire rate. Headshot multiplier of 1.70x. Reloads 2 shells at a time. Available in Rare, Epic, and Legendary variants. Available from Floor, Chests, Supply Drops, and Vending Machines Adjusted Tactical Shotgun damage Base damage increased from 66/70/74 to 71/75/79 Reduced Drum Gun availability from 16.732% to 7.155% Reduced Boom Bow availability from 1.292% to .755% Unvaulted Grenades Vaulted Clingers Vaulted Buried Treasure Vaulted Pump Shotgun Vaulted Poison Dart Trap Vaulted Scoped Revolver Vaulted Suppressed Assault Rifle Vaulted Thermal Assault Rifle Vaulted Balloons Bug Fixes & Improvements Turbo building after gliding now works correctly. The stink bomb damage audio and effects were not playing if you damaged yourself. Fixed the Shadow bomb occasionally not making the player invisible on the Xbox One the first time it’s used. Misplacement of Launch Pads in mid-air has been resolved. Pirate Cannon camera issues due to network latency have been resolved. The Reboot Card deposit sound effects no longer play in replay mode while the Van is on Cooldown. The Reboot Van card sound effects will no longer be heard when a squadmate disconnects. GAMEPLAY Slipstreams These tunnels of wind passively carry players down the stream. Players can move faster and change direction when actively trying to move down the Stream. Use directional input to gain extra velocity. Experiment with bobbing up and down for higher speeds. Players are launched when exiting the tube based on their movement speed and exit angle. Projectiles and Vehicles can also enter the Slipstream. Air Vents The powerful gusts of air from these environmental items can launch players short distances and grant immunity to fall damage. Fortbytes Fortbytes are a series of 100 collectible computer chips available to Battle Pass owners. As you collect Fortbytes, you’ll decrypt a mysterious image. Collect them all to unlock rewards and uncover the secrets of Season 9. On the first day of Season 9, there are 18 Fortbytes available to find. At least 1 new Fortbyte will be unlocked each day. Check the Challenges Tab for detailed information on which Fortbytes are currently available and when the others unlock. Fortbytes cannot be collected after Season 9 ends. Disconnected players will stay in the world for 60 seconds. They still take damage and count for elimination points. Bug Fixes & Improvements Resolved an issue with the UI showing health gains incorrectly if the player canceled the consumable close to completion time. PS4 controller lighting not always matching your pin color when in Squads. Players not able to use Hold to Swap if they previously picked an item up normally Adjusted turbo building to be more forgiving under poor network conditions Fixed cases of jittery movement under certain conditions. LIMITED TIME MODE ROTATION: TRIOS Classic Battle Royale with Three-Person Squads. SOLID GOLD Fight to the finish using Legendary weapons! ONE SHOT Low Gravity. Every player has 50 health. Sniper weapons are the only weapon, Bandages are the only healing item. Jump high and aim well! EVENTS Players who have already qualified to be in the World Cup will be marked with a World Cup badge on the event leaderboards Leaderboards now have a button to sort games by the number of top leaderboard players in them. This will help identify the most critical active games from a leaderboard standing view. The in-game HUD now has different icons for points for Arena matches and weekend tournament matches. PERFORMANCE Improved frame rate on Nintendo Switch, particularly when large numbers of characters are onscreen. Addressed some cases of invisible characters after skydiving. AUDIO Better tactical audio when inside player-built structures: Enemy Pickaxe impact within ~one building tile radius has new, louder sound. Wallbreak by enemy close/behind player much clearer/louder. Explosion audio improvements- shorter, higher dynamic range sounds that will make explosion audio clearer and punchier. UI Bug Fixes & Improvements “Swap” text appearing in the pickup UI will no longer appear when picking up more resources than the player can carry. The initial storm warning timer was incorrectly showing as 0. Spectators and replay watchers can now report users. Fixed party invites not showing up in the UI if the user logged out and back in again. SPECTATING Spectating a player’s match will now automatically follow that player. MOBILE Auto fire will now trigger on vehicles. Added option for increasing elimination feed line count in the HUD Layout Tool. Dragging/Dropping from the quickbar is now allowed while jumping. The location of the boost button on Android for the X-Stormwing has been moved to avoid triggering the Home button. Squad formation is now accessible. Bug Fixes & Improvements The delay with interacting when using the quickbar slots has been resolved. Weapon icons now correctly display icons on the quickbar. Fixed sliders that were broken in the Dead Zone tab of the Controller Options. Auto fire adjustments: Semi-automatic weapons now fire correctly. Increased acquisition delay for shotguns. Dynamite trajectory indicator is now correctly displayed during use. Ziplines can no longer be ridden past their endpoints. Autorun no longer takes more than two taps to initiate after jumping from Battle Bus. Cooldown Timer visual for boost buttons on vehicles is now displayed correctly. The camera no longer shakes when entering the X-Stormwing. Left virtual thumbstick no longer becomes invisible when holding left or right and pressing the fire button. The Harvest Tool UI button in HUD layout is no longer invisible. The stair railing in Pleasant Park no longer clips through the door. Variant numbers partially hidden in the preview screen by the “X” button. The Dream cosmetic is now correctly displaying: The butterfly Eye glow effect Widow’s Bite pickaxe visual effect issue has been resolved. The Cooldown ring timer showing briefly when switching seats in Cannon. Interact Icon is no longer missing with certain consumables. Input Blocked text will no longer appear when opening the inventory. The Item Shop arrows now display correctly on iPhone XS Max. GENERAL Reworked default button layout to be consistent across vehicles (Enter, Exit, Switch Seat and Boost) UI Sub-game select screen has been refreshed. Bug Fixes & Improvements Improved visibility of squad icons on lobby player pads in large parties Squad icons in large parties can no longer show an empty slot as ready Selecting a highlighted team member in the lobby with a controller can no longer show options for a different member Players will now appear correctly as a hologram, when joining a player currently in match Reworded Squad formation messaging to be more clear Fixed invisible character parts of players who are still loading into the match. SOCIAL Players now remain in the Party voice channel by default when entering a match. The Game channel is still available, but the switch is no longer automatic. Added a setting for the display of voice chat indicators. Bug Fixes & Improvements Suggested friends in the social panel match the suggestions in the launcher The “Sit Out/Jump In” button in Squad Formation is now displayed correctly Sending a friend invite to a suggested friend no longer fails Can now still send party invites after joining and leaving a party while set to “Friend” party privacy Fixed potentially incorrect notification message when joining a channel Voice indicators are no longer stuck on screen when leaving a party while members are speaking Fixed duplicate voice indicators appearing for the same speaker PERFORMANCE<doc-sep>
The ninth season of Fortnite is here, and it brings the battle royale game into a new sci-fi future. The biggest changes to the game are two locations: the destroyed Tilted Towers has been rebuilt as a futuristic cityscape called Neo Tilted, while Retail Row has turned into Mega Mall. The Neo Tilted structures are also available to build with in Fortnite’s creative mode. Other smaller changes to the island include some kind of power plant built around the volcano, a banana stand, and drone-like hovering platforms. Along with new locations, there’s a new form of transportation called the “slipstream,” which is essentially a wind tunnel that moves you quickly from one spot to the next. Developer Epic has added a new weapon called the “combat shotgun,” while removing a long list of items from the game, including the treasure map, balloons, and a slew of weapons. Check out all of the changes in the patch notes here. A new season also means a new battle pass, and here, the sci-fi trend continues with a number of unlockable items that include a Gundam-style suit and a robot cat. Also new are collectible computer chips called “fortbytes.” You have to collect 100 of the hidden items to complete certain challenges as well as “uncover the secrets of season 9,” according to Epic. Meanwhile, Epic has also added Arabic language support, and it says Middle East servers are in the works. “We’re still a few months from having services come online and hope to provide a more meaningful update on server support before then,” Epic says. The developer started teasing season 9 on Monday, hinting at the sci-fi aesthetic. Later teases included taglines like “the future is bright” and “the future is unknown.” The most overt tease came yesterday, with an image accompanied by the text “the future is tilted.” The new update arrives after a fairly eventful season 8. It kicked off in February and introduced a new adventure theme, complete with major additions to the Fortnite island like a volcano, pirate ship, and jungle area, along with a terrifying banana suit. (It also removed some notable features, including the short-lived airplanes.) There was also another Avengers crossover event, along with the very important option for players to pet the in-game dogs. More recently, developer Epic orchestrated another large-scale event that lasted a few weeks. It started when a strange alien rune floated its way across the island before the new volcano showed signs of erupting. Then, last weekend, a mysterious vault opened up, and players were able to collectively vote on which classic weapon to bring back. (They chose the drum gun.) After that, the volcano finally exploded, and it devastated two of Fortnite’s most iconic locations: Tilted Towers and Retail Row. As always, the start of a new season of Fortnite is just the beginning. So expect plenty of changes and updates as season 9 continues to roll out.