The childhoods of millions of kids worldwide changed six and a half years ago.
On July 21, 2017, Epic Games released Fortnite Battle Royale, a multiplayer video game that features third-person combat. Each match would consist of 100 players fighting until one player stands, reigning supreme among the entire Fortnite map.
Since its initial release, Fortnite has adjusted its game on a nearly monthly basis, with major changes denoted as new seasons or chapters. These adjustments included new characters, guns and map locations. Today, the game’s current edition looks almost completely different from the initial version.
However, this past month, Fortnite developers brought back the original (OG) experience so that players could relive the core memories they made playing the initial version of the game in 2017 and 2018. This “OG” season allowed for gameplay with maps identical to the ones from Fortnite’s release, filled with the same locations that many grew up playing with. Developers also reintroduced the same guns that were implemented during Fortnite’s peak, which took place in 2018.
Due to the amount of alterations made by Epic Games in Fortnite, many fans stopped playing the game, as the changes became overtly complex and less exciting. Introducing the OG season heightened logins into the game reached an all-time high during the COVID-19 pandemic, reaching viewership from the beginning of the game’s prime.
The OG season began on Nov. 3 and navigated through multiple peak seasons from Chapter 1, including Season 5, Season 6 and Season 8, which all came out over 4 years ago. Jeremy (JT) Thomas (‘24) expressed his feelings while playing the game. “The OG season was surreal. It had been so long since I played Fortnite and everything was exactly the same as it used to be.” Specifically, Thomas appreciated the revival of his favorite map location. “Salty Springs, because I used to land there all the time and every game had a lot of people start there.”
However, the OG season recently ended on Dec. 2, with a live event featuring an Eminem concert to close out the game’s nostalgic era. This event transitioned the game into a brand new Fortnite experience titled “Chapter 5: Underground.” Another OG edition fan, Justin Lee (‘24), made final remarks regarding the season’s close. “I actually only played Fortnite back in 2018 during the first seasons so when I was playing this month it felt like I never left. While I enjoyed some of the changes that Fortnite has made, this season was a nice recap to middle school memories when we didn’t have major worries and we could enjoy the game.”
As this nostalgic month came to a close, many other older kids and young adults who grew up playing the game reflected on their appreciation for this blast from the past. The OG gameplay jogged the memory of those who used to pour hours into the game, including Ishan Ghosh (‘24) who revealed that, “I used to wake up early before school to play Fortnite, so my initial reaction to the OG season brought me back to my old ways. I think, however, the gameplay doesn’t make Fortnite OG, but playing with the same friends that were made on this game years ago brings me back to OG Fortnite times.”
Many fans say that it’s not solely a Scar (OG Assault Rifle) or Tilted Towers (OG Map Location) that make this game an engaging experience, but rather, the connections they received, the memories they made and the excitement they shared upon playing the game that makes OG Fortnite “so nostalgic and special,” according to Thomas.
Epic Games and the rest of the developers behind Fortnite saw immense growth in engagement during the OG season. Millions of young players who hoped to relive the memories of the peak of Fortnite took the opportunity to enjoy this blast from the past. Because of its popularity, developers plan to reintroduce the OG season in 2024, exciting many fans for the game’s upcoming developments.
