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WoW accountsThe Fortnite release date was July 25, 2017. Epic put Save the World on PC, PS4, and Xbox One that day, $39.99 minimum for early access. The Battle Royale mode came two months later on September 26, 2017, free to download. Ask anyone when Fortnite came out and they’ll say the September date. We’re at 40 seasons and 7 chapters now, with Chapter 7 Season 2 “Showdown” running since March 19, 2026. Fortnite turns 9 this September.
Epic first showed Fortnite at the 2011 Spike Video Game Awards. Six years in development before it hit players’ hands. The original trailer was all zombie survival and fort building, and Save the World was pretty much that when it finally shipped.
Save the World: The Original Fortnite Release Date
Before BR existed, Fortnite was a co-op zombie defense game. Save the World had you buying a Founder’s Pack ($39.99 to $149.99), teaming up with three other people, and holding off Husk waves with traps and walls. Went live July 25, 2017. Pre-orders got in a few days early on July 21.
Four players, waves of enemies, buildable traps and defenses. The building system was solid and the trap mechanics had decent depth to them. But the player numbers stayed low. Server costs and content updates were eating money, and the revenue from Founder’s Packs wasn’t covering it. So Epic started looking at what else they could do with the engine.
Save the World was supposed to go free-to-play in 2018. That got delayed repeatedly, and in 2020 Epic dropped the F2P plans entirely, keeping it premium. The mode exited early access on June 29, 2020 with Patch 13.20. After that, updates basically stopped. The whole team moved over to Battle Royale.
In April 2026, Epic finally made Save the World free-to-play on most platforms. They first promised F2P in 2018, so this was a long time coming.
When Did Fortnite Battle Royale Come Out?
September 26, 2017. Battle Royale went free on PC, PS4, and Xbox One. 10 million players showed up in the first two weeks. Apex, Warzone, all of that came later because of this moment.
The BR mode took about two months to build. Epic pulled in the Unreal Tournament team to get it done. The concept came from an Uber ride to a Disney meeting. Donald Mustard (CCO), Tim Sweeney (CEO), and two other execs were driving for three hours, and Mustard wrote a one-page design doc in the car. He spotted a school bus on the highway and wrote down “Battle Bus.” The school bus part is actually confirmed by Mustard in interviews.
PUBG had sold 5 million copies in three months at that point. Epic looked at those numbers and went all in. Launch to 10 million took two weeks. By June 2018 the playerbase hit 125 million.
Building made Fortnite play completely differently from PUBG or any other shooter. Walls, ramps, towers going up mid-fight. PUBG players just had cover and positioning. Fortnite players could create their own cover in half a second. And it was free on top of that, while PUBG was $30.
Fortnite Release Dates by Platform
Each platform got Fortnite at a different time. PC, PS4, and Xbox had it from day one. Everything else came later, and a couple of those launches got complicated.
| Platform | Release Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| PC, PS4, Xbox One | July 25, 2017 | Save the World early access |
| PC, PS4, Xbox One | September 26, 2017 | Battle Royale (free) |
| iOS (invite-only beta) | March 15, 2018 | Full iOS release April 2, 2018 |
| Nintendo Switch | June 12, 2018 | Free download on eShop |
| Android (Samsung exclusive) | August 9, 2018 | Galaxy-only for first 30 days |
| Android (all devices) | October 2018 | Via Epic installer, not Play Store |
| PS5, Xbox Series X|S | November 2020 | Launch title for both consoles |
| Nintendo Switch 2 | 2025 | Available at Switch 2 launch |
On mobile, things got messy. iOS got Fortnite in March 2018, Android that summer. About 30% of all Fortnite players were on phones at peak. In August 2020 Epic added direct payments to dodge Apple and Google’s 30% fee. Both companies removed Fortnite from their stores on the same day. Lawsuits dragged on for years. Fortnite came back to iOS in the EU through sideloading and returned to the US App Store in early 2026.
The 6 Years Before Launch: Fortnite’s Development History
Epic started working on Fortnite in 2011 and announced it at the Spike VGA that December. It came out of a game jam: co-op fort building with zombies. Six years of development before it actually released.
The delays piled up:
- Mid-development they moved from Unreal Engine 3 to Unreal Engine 4. Huge chunks of the game had to be rebuilt.
- The visuals changed completely. Early builds were dark, almost horror-styled. Epic eventually scrapped all of that and went cartoon.
- Tencent bought 40% of Epic. Internal reshuffling followed. Cliff Bleszinski, one of the original Fortnite devs, left Epic around this time.
- Epic shifted to a games-as-a-service model, so the entire payment and progression system needed a redo.
The closed alpha started in December 2014, with a second round in March 2015. Both were under strict NDA, so almost no footage leaked. The community has only managed to dig up recordings from Online Test 6.5 and parts of Online Test 10.1. If you search YouTube for early Fortnite alpha footage, there’s barely anything. The game looked completely different back then, no Battle Royale, no island, just fort defense missions.
Fortnite’s Chapter and Season Timeline
Since the Fortnite release date in 2017, content has been split into Chapters and Seasons. A new chapter brings a new map and usually new core mechanics. Seasons last 2-3 months each with their own Battle Pass and loot pool.
| Chapter | Seasons | Time Period | Standout Moment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Chapter 1 | 11 (incl. Pre-Season) | Oct 2017 to Oct 2019 | Black Hole event ended the original map |
| Chapter 2 | 8 | Oct 2019 to Dec 2021 | Marvel Season 4, Travis Scott concert |
| Chapter 3 | 4 | Dec 2021 to Dec 2022 | Zero Build mode launched March 2022 |
| Chapter 4 | 5 (incl. OG) | Dec 2022 to Nov 2023 | Unreal Engine 5 upgrade, OG nostalgia season |
| Chapter 5 | 5 (incl. Remix) | Dec 2023 to Dec 2024 | Chapter 2 Remix mini-season |
| Chapter 6 | 5 (incl. Simpsons) | Dec 2024 to Nov 2025 | Parkour mechanics, Star Wars mini-season |
| Chapter 7 | 2 (ongoing) | Nov 2025 to present | Showdown: Foundation vs Ice King rivalry |
Average season length is about 79 days. Chapter 2 Season 1 holds the record at 128 days, and the community was complaining about it by week 10. Mini-seasons (OG, Remix, Simpsons) lasted 28-29 days each. Since Chapter 3, Epic has done one chapter per year, 4-5 regular seasons, and one short nostalgia throwback. Chapters 4 through 7 all followed that same structure.
Biggest Milestones Since the Fortnite Release Date
Year-by-year since the original Fortnite release date. Live player stats on Fortnite Tracker.
2017: BR goes free September 26. Hits 10 million players in two weeks. At this point almost nobody outside the gaming bubble has heard of it.
2018: Fortnite is everywhere. Your mom knows what it is. Ninja and Drake stream together on Twitch, breaking viewership records. Revenue hits an estimated $2.4 billion for the year according to SuperData Research. Mobile launches. 125 million players by June.
2019: The “Black Hole” event deletes the entire Chapter 1 map. Fortnite goes offline for two days straight. Millions of players sit on Twitch watching a black screen. Chapter 2 launches with a brand new island, new swimming mechanics, and fishing.
2020: Travis Scott’s Astronomical concert pulls 27.7 million concurrent players. Fortnite gets booted from iOS and Android after Epic tries to bypass app store fees. Save the World exits early access. PS5 and Xbox Series X|S get Fortnite as a launch title.
2022: Zero Build mode launches in March. Removes building entirely. Players who quit because of build fights come flooding back. Chapter 4 arrives in December with Unreal Engine 5 and the visual upgrade was noticeable even on console.
2023: The OG mini-season brings back the Chapter 1 map for 29 days. Player numbers spike hard. Reddit loses its collective mind with nostalgia.
2025: Chapter 6 introduces parkour mechanics. Star Wars and Simpsons mini-seasons happen. Fortnite launches on Nintendo Switch 2. Chapter 7 kicks off in November with a Hollywood-inspired island.
2026: Chapter 7 Season 2 “Showdown” launches March 19, featuring a rivalry system between The Foundation and Ice King. Epic hikes V-Bucks prices, which doesn’t go over well with players. The game currently runs on Unreal Engine 5.8.
Where Fortnite Stands in 2026
Right now? Chapter 7 Season 2, called “Showdown.” Started March 19, 2026, runs until early June. You pick a side when you log in: Team Foundation or Team Ice King. Win enough in-match “Rivalries” and you climb a global leaderboard. Top performers get exclusive skins.
Fortnite in 2026 has BR, Zero Build, LEGO Fortnite (survival, split into Odyssey and Brick Life), Rocket Racing, Fortnite Festival (rhythm game), Fortnite Ballistic (tactical FPS, still in early access), and Creative. All of them share the same account and V-Bucks balance. A long way from the $40 PvE zombie game it launched as in 2017.
SypherPK made an animated version of the full Fortnite history. Good watch:
Every Fortnite Game Mode and Its Launch Date
All seven modes run on the same engine and share your Epic account and V-Bucks.
| Mode | Launch Date | Price |
|---|---|---|
| Save the World | July 25, 2017 | Paid (going F2P April 2026) |
| Battle Royale | September 26, 2017 | Free |
| Creative | December 6, 2018 | Free |
| LEGO Fortnite | December 7, 2023 | Free |
| Rocket Racing | December 8, 2023 | Free |
| Fortnite Festival | December 9, 2023 | Free |
| Fortnite Ballistic | 2025 (Early Access) | Free |
Everything except Save the World is free. V-Bucks and most skins carry over between modes. We covered every Fortnite season in order in a separate article, and there’s also our rarest Fortnite skins list.
Fortnite Release Date vs. Other Battle Royale Launches
H1Z1 started the BR wave. PUBG made it massive. Fortnite made it free, added building, and ate everyone’s lunch.
| Game | Release Date | Status in 2026 |
|---|---|---|
| H1Z1 (King of the Kill) | January 2015 (Early Access) | Shut down |
| PUBG | March 2017 (Early Access) | Still active, F2P |
| Fortnite Battle Royale | September 2017 | 40 seasons, 7 chapters deep |
| Apex Legends | February 2019 | Active, regular seasons |
| Call of Duty: Warzone | March 2020 | Evolved into Warzone 2.0 |
Six months. That’s the gap between PUBG and Fortnite BR. By the end of year one, Fortnite had already crushed it. PUBG cost money. Fortnite was free. PUBG updated slowly. Fortnite dropped new stuff every week. The building mechanic on top of that? Other BRs didn’t stand a chance.
Related: Valorant rank distribution | Marvel Rivals ranks
Fortnite Release Date FAQ
When did Fortnite come out?
July 25, 2017 for Save the World. September 26, 2017 for Battle Royale (free).
How old is Fortnite in 2026?
8 years from the Save the World launch, or almost 9 if you go by Battle Royale’s September 2017 date.
When did Fortnite Battle Royale release?
September 26, 2017. PC, PS4, Xbox One. Epic built it in roughly two months, which is kind of insane.
What chapter is Fortnite on right now?
Chapter 7 Season 2, “Showdown.” Started March 19, 2026. Foundation vs Ice King faction war.
When did Fortnite come to mobile?
iOS beta in March 2018, full iOS in April 2018, Android August 2018. Got pulled from both stores in August 2020 over Epic’s payment dispute with Apple and Google.
How many Fortnite seasons have there been?
40 across 7 chapters (April 2026). That count includes the short mini-seasons like OG, Chapter 2 Remix, and Simpsons.
Is Fortnite Save the World still available?
It is. Exited early access June 2020. Was paid-only for years, but goes free-to-play on most platforms in April 2026.
Other release date guides: GTA 6 | Battlefield 6 | WoW expansions
Current Fortnite meta: weapon tier list | Fortnite on Switch 2
Last updated: April 2026
