Fortnite's Playground mode was in limbo, but now it's finally live
The new mode gives you freedom to experiment in Fortnite's world... once Epic Games it to work.
Update: Fortnite's Playground mode is now live, so what are you waiting for?! For more details on its release, click here. Or read on to learn about its rocky launch.
It's nearly been a week since Fortnite: Battle Royale's latest update arrived, but its most-anticipated new feature, Playground mode, has still yet to emerge after a rocky debut. Fortnite creator Epic Games has been since working on a fix, but so far, there's no date set for Playground's return.
But once the update dropped, Fortnite's multiplayer matchmaking began to break, forcing the company to roll the update back while it worked out the bugs, GameSpot reports. The game itself is still working smoothly while the errors are being fixed, but you'll have to wait for these new features.
We’re aware of the stability and performance issues currently impacting players and we’re working on an emergency patch to resolve this. We’ll keep everyone updated on the progress and roll out of the patch. 🛠️
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) June 27, 2018
Playground mode, as described by Epic, lets up to four people drop down on the island with relaxed settings to practice building and shooting. Players will get a full hour on the island without a storm closing in to brush up on fort building and using weapons they have yet to master.
You won't have problems finding gear either -- all gold chest nodes are turned on in this mode, so you can familiarize yourself with where loot may drop when you play the regular game. Friendly fire is turned on, but if a friend kills you, you respawn almost immediately, dropping from the battle bus again with the freedom to go anywhere else on the island.
In their latest message to fans Monday, Epic provided some hope that Playground would be coming back sometime soon, though there's still work to be done.
"We have some system performance goals that we believe are required in order to relaunch the Playground LTM," Epic said in a post to the r/FortniteBR subreddit. "We've continued working towards (sic) these goals over the weekend and our most recent load tests look promising, but there are some anomalies in the data that we still need to understand."
Epic has also added dual-wield pistols. After dropping onto the island a few times today I'm yet to find any, so I'm still waiting to feel like Neo from The Matrix. Also, to celebrate the Fourth of July, rocket launchers will temporarily be called fireworks launchers, changing the explosion visuals to look like fireworks for the summer holiday.
Another welcome update has to do with communicating with your teammates. Now, when you place a marker on the map to point out a location, your teammates will see visual indicators in-game where those markers are placed. There were also tweaks to damage and accuracy for both shotguns and SMGs.
In addition to the update, Epic announced that season 5, featuring all new challenges, will launch on July 12.
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Updated July 2, 1:14pm PT: New information about Playground mode's status added from Epic.
Updated July 3, 11:03am PT: Now reflects that the Playground mode is now live.