'Fortnite: Save the World' Free-to-Play Launch Delayed

Epic Games announced that Fortnite: Save the World won't become free-to-play in 2018 as originally planned.

While Fortnite: Battle Royale is free for everyone, Save the World is a paid PvE version of the game that predates the battle royale mode. Epic Games said that it wanted to make that version of Fortnite free-to-play in 2018, but the developers announced on Monday that those plans had changed with the game no longer due out as a free product this year.

"We decided to move the free-to-play launch of Save the World out of this year," Epic Games said in a developer update. "We're working on a broad set of features, reworks, and backend system scaling we believe are needed to go free-to-play. Save the World has grown consistently since our launch in July 2017 and Fortnite overall has experienced unprecedented growth. Scaling up for the legions of player heroes who will be joining the fight is key to providing an excellent experience. This applies to all of our players, old and new, so we're taking the time to get this right."

The post also referenced the game's Halloween event that was teased recently, a special feature called the "Fortnitemares Event." Any Save the World founders who log into the game and play during that event will get the Brainiac Jonesy and Skull Ranger Ramirez unlockables for free.

For anyone who was holding out for the game to become free-to-play but now has to wait until next year to play it, Epic Games is also having a promotion right now that discounts Save the World and its different versions. The Standard, Deluxe, Super Deluxe, and Limited Founder's packs, each coming with different levels of content and bonuses, are all available for half-off starting this week, Epic Games said. No end date for the promotion was given.

Continuing the announcement, Epic Games touched on the Halloween event once again by discussing how it'll work in Save the World.

"You'll head to Hexsylvania to revisit last year's Vlad Moon Rising questline," Epic Games explained. "If you played the event last year you may notice a few changes… and even more Vlad than before. New visitors to Hexsylvania will deliver some spooky world saving, as Ray and company confront history's evil-est Vlad."

Fortnite: Save the World is expected to launch as a free-to-play game sometime next year.