When did Fortnite come out? All Fortnite release dates, explained

Fortnite is a game that has blown up massively when it first came out and it has remained steady ever since. Looking way back, when did Fortnite come out? We’ll go over that along with its other iterations.

When did Fortnite come out?

Fortnite was more than just a battle royale game when it was initially released. In fact, the first version of it was actually a third-person survival, base management, and tower defense shooter. For the OGs who know, it’s called Fortnite: Save the World. That came out in “early access” on July 25, 2017, for the Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC at the time. This was the paid version of the game. 

All Fortnite release dates, explained

Later that year, the free Battle Royale component of the game came out on September 26, 2017, for Xbox One, PlayStation 4, and PC. This is the mode that remains popular even today with constant updates. The game eventually was ported to the Nintendo Switch in June of 2018.

As the game grew more popular, the next mode, Fortnite Creative, would come out the following year. This came out on December 6, 2018, on the same platforms mentioned earlier. Creative mode allows players to “turn their vision into reality” using the assets inside Fortnite to create their own games and maps.

With the release of the ninth generation of consoles in late 2020, Fortnite released both on the Xbox Series X and S consoles as well as the PlayStation 5 on November 10, 2020. The game now had the capability of running at 4K 60 FPS on both consoles (excluding the series S), with a 1080p option on home consoles.

Years later, Epic Games eventually released the popular Zero Build mode for Fortnite. This came out on March 29, 2022. With how much the original game’s building aspect deterred a lot of players from playing, the Zero Build mode was met with positive reception. 

Following a successful year of this ever-expanding game, Fortnite then dipped into the Lego world on December 7, 2023. This mode is free to play and feels similar to something like Minecraft where you are at the creative helm in this sandbox survival mode. 

The next day, December 8, 2023, in collaboration with Psyonix, Rocket Racing would be released. This is the arcade racing component that further breaks away from the third-person battle royale that many have probably needed a break from. 

Finally, we have Fortnite Festival. This came out on December 9, 2023, just after Rocket Racing and Lego Fortnite. In collaboration with Harmonix, this is the rhythm-game mode. 

To sum up everything earlier, there’s more to Fortnite than just its battle royale mode. There are modes and components in addition to the BR mode that essentially make this a platform. Everything is still under the Fortnite umbrella, just with different ways to play it. So, to break it down, these are all the dates in a list:

• Fortnite: Save the World – July 25, 2017
• Fortnite: Battle Royale – September 26, 2017
• Fortnite Creative – December 6, 2018 
• Fortnite Zero Build – March 29, 2022
• Lego Fortnite – December 7, 2023
• Rocket Racing – December 8, 2023
• Fortnite Festival – December 9, 2023

The even cooler thing is that should you get burnt out from the core mode, there are other modes to play that still count toward your seasonal battle passes!