Fortnite Season 8 is now available, and it includes pirates, cannons and volcano lava

Fortnite, the world’s hottest recreation proper now with some 200 million gamers, has simply announced that its a lot anticipated Season eight is on the market.

For these of you who don’t play Fortnite, the title takes on an episodic method with new options, instruments and maps launched each few months. That retains issues contemporary, avid gamers engaged and the cash flowing since every new season presents a Battle Move which prices round $10 and unlocks a load of goodies, together with skins and emote dance strikes.

Season 8 is pretty much what the leaks this week suggested. The theme is pirates with new skins that embody a huge banana swimsuit, pirates and snakes, and pirate cannon is a brand new weapon that’s been added. Cannons can dish out 100 injury when there’s a direct hit, or administer 50 injury of these within the influence space — it may also be used to fireplace gamers to new places.

The map can be a serious Fortnite focus, and Season eight has added lava to the present volcano. Stepping on lava provides gamers one injury level per contact whereas there are volcanic vents that can be utilized to ship a participant or car into the air utilizing a gust of sizzling air. There’s additionally a variety of treasure to be discovered inside pirate ships, one other new addition which is the place the cannons will be discovered.

On the gaming taking part in aspect, the foremost addition is ‘Social gathering Help’ mode which lets gamers convey their buddies into Fortnite’s day by day or weekly challenges. These challenges are necessary to gamers since they unlock treasures, together with skins, and, actually, those that performed Season 7 might earn a free Battle Move for Season eight by finishing the correct challenges. Which may have saved just a few million mother and father $10.

(By the way in which, should you’re struggling to load the sport, that’s as a result of scheduled upkeep kicked off at 4am EST in preparation for the brand new season launch — you will discover extra data on the standing web page here.)

These are the principle additions, although game-maker Epic Games has chucked in just a few little touches — together with extending the considerably comical ‘infinite dab’ characteristic from 11 hours to 12, which means that your character will preserve dancing just a little longer when left within the foyer.

I can’t assist however suppose Season 7 was a larger leap — since the addition of planes and ziplines really changed how players get around — however we’ll must see how the gaming public reacts. This time round, quite a lot of the main focus is on skins and emotes, moderately than options.

A recent report prompt Fortnite’s income had dipped in January, however that was fairly unfair as a result of its the month that adopted a surge in spending across the December Battle Move and likewise, extra usually, a surge across the Christmas holidays.

Sources instructed us not too long ago Epic Games banked $3 billion in profit across its entire business in 2018, thanks specifically to Fortnite, and it must preserve its season releases compelling if that streak is to proceed. There’s quite a bit driving on Season eight, particularly as credible rivals emerge.