Former Fortnite Loremaster Shares Early Metaverse Ambitions
Lego Fortnite
In case you missed it last week, Fortnite is more than just a battle royale game now — it’s a hub for a wide range of experiences. This past week has seen a Minecraft-like Lego tie-in, a Super Mario Kart-style kart racer, and a Rockband-like rhythm mode added to the game, and we’re sure there’s more on the way.
It’s truly incredible how sudden all of these additions have been, but behind the scenes, this has been Epic’s plan for a long, long time. Six years, in fact, if former Epic Games CCO and Fortnite Loremaster Donald Mustard is to be believed.
Mustard took to Twitter over the weekend to share an early design document dated December 2017 for Fortnite’s expansion into a hub of various activities — a metaverse, if you will. The document envisions a central hub from which different experiences, like PVP, PVE, music, and more can launch. It also mentions “survival” and “creative,” modes that have turned up in both Fortnite itself with its creative maps, and Lego Fortnite.
I ‘think’ this is the first time we kinda drew out our crazy idea. The idea to evolve Fortnite into a ‘Place’. A place where you could have all sorts of different agency driven game and entertainment experiences with your friends - all connected by your ‘hub’ (your locker,… pic.twitter.com/XX34kVchDs
— Donald Mustard (@DonaldMustard) December 9, 2023
The former CCO and loremaster – who left Epic Games in September – says that the new additions for the game were always the plan for Fortnite, and the team knew it would take a long time and a lot of luck.
“It was such a HUGE, audacious, vision,” Mustard said on Twitter, “We knew it would take years and so much work on so many fronts. We (can’t believe how close we were) guessed it would take about 6 years. The plan changed and evolved a million times, but today you are playing the true vision of the dream of Fortnite.”
Mustard goes on to say that he, for the first time, doesn’t know what’s next for the game, but that he has full faith in the team at Epic to create “innovative and delightful” experiences.
Lego Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival are all available in the Fortnite app on PC, Nintendo Switch, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, PS4, PS5, and mobile devices now.
