At its core, Fortnite is a game intended to be enjoyed by everyone. As the battle royale grows older, however, those players who have been repeatedly air-dropping onto Battle Island have accrued a wealth of experience on the battlefield. Naturally, that means the skill gap between the very best and new and/or less-talented players will inevitably grow as the months and years progress. For Epic, one of the primary missions it has is ensuring that such a division never grows too wide and that fresh-faced newbies still have a solid chance at scoring an adrenaline-filled victory.
Long story short, this is the design philosophy ultimately responsible for the introduction of Season X’s B.R.U.T.E. mech and the subsequent reason why Epic has no intention of removing it from play. Finally addressing the elephant in the room in a blog post released yesterday, the developer provides a more extensive breakdown of its so-called ‘Fortnite philosophy’, as well as a series of graphs that attempt to calm views that it’s much too powerful.
“We’ve heard the frequent discussions (#RemoveTheMech) about the B.R.U.T.E., and decided this would be a good opportunity to explain the Fortnite philosophy,” reads the blog post from Epic. “The mission of Fortnite is to bring players of all skill levels together to have a fun experience where anyone can win.”
“For example – everyone having a shot at that first elimination or Victory Royale moment and the satisfying feeling that comes with it. Right now, we know there are players out there who have never had that opportunity. Another part of the mission is to provide spectacle and entertainment when playing Fortnite.
Bringing these moments to the game every week means there is always a new way to enjoy and experience the game. The B.R.U.T.E. was added at the start of Season X with this mission in mind. Since then, we have seen players who had previously struggled with getting eliminations acquiring more, while the number of eliminations earned by more experienced players remained steady.”
A surprising turn of events, to say the least. Across all game modes, B.R.U.T.E. eliminations account for less than 10 eliminations per match, with the most popular mode – solos – recording an average of four eliminations per game. Assuming every match recorded started with a maximum of 100 players, that’s less than 5% of total eliminations. This is just an average, of course, so individual accounts of B.R.U.T.Es going on a map-wide rampage are essentially freak occurrences rather than the norm.
It’s worth noting, too, that the figures provided above only take into account matches played in lieu of several balance adjustments made since the vehicle’s introduction. All in all, Epic clearly believes the B.R.U.T.E. is serving its intended purpose as a gap-closer between new and existing Fortnite players.
Love it or hate it, the mech is here to stay.