Fortnite Mobile Running On iOS

Epic made a surprising announcement recently when it revealed that it was bringing Fortnite's incredibly popular Battle Royale mode to mobile, complete with cross-play. With a beta test coming up on iOS and sign-ups now live, Epic has provided us with our first look at the game running on mobile.

The mobile reveal trailer above showcases gameplay that Epic says is from the mobile version, though it doesn't specify exactly what hardware it's running on--iPhone 6S/SE, iPad Mini 4, iPad Air 2, iPad 2017, iPad Pro, or a newer Apple device with iOS 11 is required to play. Regardless, you can get a sense for both how it may look on your device of choice and what it's going to play like.

Epic promised that Fortnite on mobile would be the full experience, and from what little we can glean, that appears to be the case. Graphics quality is, as you'd expect, lower than what many Battle Royale players are likely accustomed to, as it runs at a noticeably low resolution in some sections (such as when a player parachutes down into the Dusty Depot area). That said, Fortnite's cartoonish style seems to lend itself well to this kind of downgrade.

More importantly, we also get a brief glimpse at the controls and user interface. The map is relegated to the upper-left corner, while your inventory is listed along the bottom of the screen and touch buttons are located on the left and (primarily) right. We don't yet know how much freedom you'll have to customize these controls; while not as complex as the control scheme in PUBG, Epic does face a challenge in adequately mapping controls meant for a keyboard and mouse or controller to a touchscreen.

As noted above, you can now sign up to participate in Fortnite's upcoming mobile test. It will only be available on iOS initially, although Android will come later. Players can opt-in for cross-play with PS4, Xbox One, and PC, allowing them to squad up with friends on other platforms--provided you want to.