Epic Games CEO and founder Tim Sweeney recently spoke to IGN and revealed that the massively popular battle royale game, Fortnite, simply cannot support more than 100 players at a time in its current state. Sweeney explained that “Fortnite Battle Royale is 100 players because we can’t support more. That’s as many players as we can fit on a single server, on a single floor, on a machine.”
Room for Improvement
Despite the current limitations of the game, Sweeney remains hopeful about the future of game development. “I think people are underestimating the opportunity for advances in the programming, language technology, and programming stack to improve the state of game development,” he said in the same interview.
Comparison to Other Battle Royale Games
It’s worth comparing Fortnite’s 100-player limit to other battle royale games on the market. For example, Apex Legends supports up to 60 players within a match while PUBG supports up to 100. The most recent addition to the battle royale genre, Call of Duty: Warzone 2.0, can have up to 150 players within a server. It’s unclear whether Epic Games is working toward supporting more players within Fortnite.
The Importance of Technology
Sweeney explained that Epic Games doesn’t currently have the technology to support larger server sizes without a significant loss of quality in the programming model. However, the company is optimistic about the future of game development, especially with the release of Unreal Engine 5.2.
New Season
The recent season of Fortnite, known as the Mega season, introduced a new Japanese theme, several map changes, and new weapons to utilize. Fans have been enjoying the new content, but the news of the 100-player limit may elicit mixed reactions.
Final Thoughts
While the news that Fortnite cannot support more than 100 players may surprise and disappoint some fans, it’s important to remember that technological advancements may change this in the future. Epic Games is optimistic about the state of game development, and players can look forward to new features and improvements in the years to come.
