Epic’s creative director interested in Switch port of Fortnite

Fortnite’s success-or rather the success of its Battle Royale mode-is well-documented. It’s got over 40 million registered players and counting, across multiple platforms. Now, it seems, Epic are interested in bringing the game to one more console: the Nintendo Switch.

In a Twitter reply to a fan’s question, Epic’s Worldwide Creative Director Donald Mustard said on Thursday that he was interested in bringing Fortnite to the home console-handheld hybrid in the future. It’s not a confirmation by any means, but it’s a good sign that the higher-ups over at Epic have their sights set on the system.

Yes. Yes I am. Hopefully we do that at some point!

— Donald Mustard (@DonaldMustard) January 25, 2018

The question remains, though: how would the game actually translate to a system like the Switch? It’s not as powerful as the PS4 or Xbox One, but Unreal Engine 4 is heavily scalable. There’s potential for visuals and performance to go either way, especially factoring in the provisions needed for handheld mode.

And if Epic want to preserve the full Fortnite experience as they port it over, there would likely need to be big changes to how the Switch’s online play is handled. Co-operation with friends is integral to both the PvE and PvP sides of the game, and that means communication. Voice chat is beyond wonky on the Switch, which casts serious doubt on Fortnite Battle Royale being an enjoyable tactical experience on the console.

We’ll update with more information as it becomes available.