Fortnite: Battle Royale, the hit game about pickaxes, horrible weather, goofy armor, and destroying sky forts by shooting a single plank, is coming to the mobile sphere. Sign-ups for its Invite Event will start on Monday, with no date announced for a specific Android release just yet. According to Epic Games, the mobile version of Fortnite: Battle Royale will not only be a full-fledged for but will also feature cross-play and cross-progression. This is due to a partnership with Sony that will allow for cross-platform multiplayer and progression between mobile, PC, Mac, and PlayStation 4. Chromebook and Linux users running the game through a Windows compatibility layer like WINE should also have no issues with taking advantage of this functionality either. So, while Xbox One owners are out of luck, other gamers will soon be able to play a round on the PS4 in the morning, squeeze in a round of the same game with the same character on the bus, then get in one more round on their lunch break before heading back home to their console.
You need iOS 11 or later on a recent iPhone or iPad in order to sign up for initial testing, so it is to be assumed that you will need a somewhat recent Android device once the game hits Android “in the coming months.” The underlying APIs used by developers differ across Android builds, with each one adding more capabilities. Since this is a console-quality game being ported straight to mobile with no content or gameplay modifications, it’s not entirely unlikely that you’ll need a very powerful device with a version of Android sitting at 7.0 (Nougat) or later. The Qualcomm Snapdragon 820 featured in 2016 flagships like the Samsung Galaxy S7, LG G5, and first-generation Google Pixel was the first chipset to support Google’s powerful Daydream VR standard, so venturing a guess, something of that power level could be required to run Fortnite: Battle Royale when it comes to Android, depending on how well it’s optimized.
For now, Android players can scratch their battle royale genre itch with a number of clones of PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds in the Play Store. Doing a search for either Fortnite: Battle Royale or PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds on the Play Store, and you’ll be presented with a range of fairly decent options like Rules of Survival. It’s worth noting that Fortnite’s key rival, genre popularizer PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, is also getting a mobile port, albeit one that’s expected to feature stripped-down content and mechanics.
Just announced: Fortnite Battle Royale is coming to mobile! Sign-ups for the Invite Event on iOS start Monday.
More details here: https://t.co/UxwzeySxdw
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) March 9, 2018