Fortnite may have slipped in popularity slightly from the mountaintop of pop-culture it once stood on, but it's still relevant enough that everywhere one turns, it can be seen on shirts, backpacks, TVs, and mobile devices. Epic Games is continuing to take advantage of the popularity of the battle royale, and the most recent evidence of this is that it is inviting Fortnite players to design '"Free Fortnite" merchandise.
The "Free Fortnite" phrase is referencing Epic's ongoing legal battle with Apple. Epic has already been using the fans and the gaming community as leverage in this fight, but now it is asking fans to create merchandise to spread the word even further.
Epic has made an asset pack available for free on the Unreal Engine site. The assets and logos are based on the "Free Fortnite" Apple parody that the gaming giant has created. Fans will be able to use the assets to create shirts, hats, stickers, and more to sell, and the cut that Epic will get out of the investment is that their message will continue to be shared.
This ongoing legal battle is one of the more interesting stories in gaming. But Epic bringing everything to light in this way is one of the reasons why. Epic is inviting the public to look at this issue, which is rare for lawsuits that often happen behind the scenes. Apple claims that this is all Epic Games' fault, but time will tell what the result of the lawsuit is.
Video game merchandise is often popular, so taking advantage of a creative community and the willingness to sell and buy cool gear makes a lot of sense from Epic's perspective. If in the end, however, Epic loses to Apple, all of this will look quite silly. But really, with Fortnite, Epic has always looked to take advantage of the here and now.
While gamers appreciate the new battle pass and content within the game, Apple is suspending Epic's App Store developer account, as the two behemoth companies are in the middle of a lawsuit in front of a worldwide audience. In some ways, this is all very entertaining; in other ways, it is rather exhausting. For the most part, video game fans just want to be able to enjoy their favorite games on platforms that make sense. So one can only hope that this whole issue is resolved sooner rather than later.
Fortnite is out now for PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.
Source: GameSpot