During last night’s Game Awards show, Epic Games unveiled a brand new limited-time variant of Fortnite’s PvP-focused Battle Royale mode which pits two teams of 50 players against each other in a massive team-based conflict.
Unlike the standard Fortnite Battle Royale experience which is a mostly free-for-all affair, the 50v50 mode will put a strong emphasis on teamwork along with more focused gameplay as each team is wholly committed to destroying the other.
In fact, each match of the 50v50 mode won’t end until an entire team has been wiped out, so there’s definitely a lot of potential for nail-biter finishes and surprise comebacks as each team’s roster dwindles more and more.
Players can queue into the 50v50 mode either solo or as a pre-made party of up to five, and in both cases they’ll be merged into an existing pool of random players which will be locked in once 50 players in total have been gathered. As you can see in the announcement trailer, the 50v50 mode won’t be a straight up deathmatch since Fortnite’s construction elements will be present as well.
This means that each team can construct its own fortresses and defenses, and even utilize unorthodox strategies like using jump pads and/or gliders to get the drop on their foes. The 50v50 mode will also allow players on the same team to revive downed teammates who are downed, and friendly fire will naturally be disabled, ensuring that teams who work together will stand the greatest chance of obtaining victory.
The 50v50 mode is available now on PC, Xbox One, and PlayStation 4, and it will remain available until December 17th. Much like the standard Fortnite Battle Royale experience, the 50v50 mode is entirely free-to-play. Along with the 50v50 mode announcement, Epic also revealed that Fortnite recently reached a new milestone of 1.3 million concurrent players, and that over 30 million unique Fortnite accounts have been created since Fortnite’s launch, a number which was undoubtedly bolstered by the more recent Battle Royale experience.