Epic Games announced today that Fortnite will be the latest in the growing list of Xbox One X Enhanced games. This is just another major hiccup on the road to Player Unkown’s Battlegrounds Xbox One release next month. Epic Games releasing an identical, and arguably improved, battle royale game mode months earlier than PUBG was already a huge coup for Fortnite.
If you couple that with improved graphics and better mechanics, as I layed out in a previous article about why Fortnite is a better game than PUBG, then this could already be a huge obstacle for Bluehole to overcome before their game even launches.
Isn’t it just so pretty!?
Fortnite’s Patch V.1.9.1 includes the 4k enhancement, the all new smoke grenades, official rocket riding, and will release on all platforms on Nov. 29, a full two weeks before PUBG’s official release on Xbox One on Dec. 12. They’re going to have a lot of catching up to do on consoles if they even hope to steal players away from Epic’s free to play hit.
If there’s anything that can save the PUBG launch on Xbox it’s the pure excited anticipation we’ve all felt waiting for this game to drop since it was announced by Microsoft at E3 back in June. Bluehole also really needs to play up the whole, “PUBG is a more Hardcore experience” angle so they can try to differentiate themselves enough from Fortnite to build a decent player base.
Is it Dec. 12 yet?
At the end of the day, is Fortnite getting the 4k enhancement on Xbox a deathknell for PUBG, absolutely not. PUBG is a massive hit and it will continue to be that once it finally releases in a couple of weeks. However, it could have been a lot better if they hadn’t had to worry about such stiff competition right out of the gate. It’s going to be an uphill battle for Bluehole to combat the free price point, sharp graphics, and already established player base that Fortnite has going for it on console platforms.
I for one, will be playing both and I’m excited to see this battle ensue. A battle between developers almost always means good things for us gamers in the end.
