It seems that Apex Legends has Epic Games more worried than we thought. I mean, how else do you explain the evidence that they seem to be incorporating many features that people love in Respawn’s hot new hit into Fortnite?
Just yesterday, we saw the launch of Season 8 bring a very familiar pinging system to the game that allows players to tag enemies, equipment and points of interest to their teammates – something suspiciously similar to Apex Legends’ much-lauded Smart Comms system. Now, a data-miner has discovered evidence that we may be getting a respawn feature in Fortnite.
The new Season 8 files provide a lot for data-miners to trawl through, but one of the most interesting is the mention of a new “Second Chance Van.” This would allow players to pick up their downed teammate’s character card and bring it to the van to revive them. It’s extremely similar to the way you can resurrect teammates in Apex Legends, and given that Epic has teased that we should “look for further updates during Season 8,” we might be trying it out real soon.
With PUBG having fallen from popularity (at least judging by what we can glean from Steam stats), Fortnite has been without a real competitor for a while now. I reckon this lack of competition has allowed Epic, consciously or not, to become a bit complacent with the game. Sure, there’s been a steady trickle of new content and events, but without a competitor, there’s been no drive to keep things fresh.
But, with Apex Legends hoovering up millions of players in its first few weeks, Epic’s clearly conscious that you can only remain the king for so long. Adding to this is that uncomfortable fact that revenue was down 50% in January for the developer.
Personally, I’m a little torn. On one hand, it’s nice to see Fortnite evolving in response to the competition, but on the other, it’s a little galling to see Epic transplanting mechanics from Apex Legends into their game. As long as both stay fun though, I guess we’ll all be winners.