Fortnite’s long-awaited first-person mode is set to launch next season if rumours are to be believed
Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 2 is now only days away, and the rumour mill shows no sign of stopping. While we still haven’t even been given an official launch date or time from Epic Games, the ever-reliable set of Fortnite leakers have been giving us news almost daily. Not only have we heard about what may make up the battle pass, it looks like the long-awaited Fortnite first-person mode will be making its way to Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 2.
Fortnite leaker @HYPEX posted a tweet over the weekend saying that Fortnite first-person mode is coming in the next season, adding that the same source confirmed the news to fellow leakers @ShiinaBR, @GMatrixGames and @iFireMonkey, who have corroborated the rumours on their own accounts. None of the leakers have elaborated when in the season the mode will be released – whether it’s at launch or later down the line – but presumably we’ll know more when Epic Games officially announces details of the upcoming season.
A Fortnite first-person mode has been rumoured as far back as June 2022 when @HYPEX stated that Epic Games had started work on a first-person mode. Then in January, @ShiinaBR revealed that more files had been added for the mode in the Fortnite update 23.30. It looks like it was all in preparation for the next season.
This update will be the most significant change made to Fortnite since Zero Build mode was introduced when Chapter 3 Season 2 launched, before becoming a permanent mode less than two weeks later in update v20.00. Perhaps we could see the same thing happen with Fortnite first-person mode Chapter 4 Season 2 launches.
Doom-nite
After Zero Build, Fortnite first-person mode is the next logical step for the game; it’s been a heavily requested feature for some time, even if I don’t see the appeal. Although, I suppose if Warzone 2 has third-person mode in rotation it makes sense for Fortnite to step on Call of Duty’s first-person turf. It remains to be seen how smooth of a transfer it will be, especially when Fortnite has the likes of grappling hooks and dolphin-like swimming. Unless Epic Games will disable these in first-person you could be due for some motion sickness.
It'll be interesting to see how the building will work in first-person as well. The mechanic is clearly built with a third-person game in mind. Unless Fortnite first-person mode is locked to Zero Build only, I can see it being a headache of its own. There’s also the fear that this could further split the playerbase.
Hypothetically speaking, there'll be Battle Royale, Zero Build, first-person versions of both, as well as solo, duos, trios and squads variants of all four. You’re splitting your core playerbase across 16 game modes which could significantly increase wait-times. In this instance, maybe less is more...
