Is Fortnite still drawing inspiration from fellow battle royale Apex Legends?

The battle royale concept has been one of the most popular video game genres since 2015-2016. It started with games like Arma 3 and H1Z1: King of the Kill, but once titles like PUBG and Fortnite released, battle royale skyrocketed to the top. While PUBG is still somewhat around, it seems as though Fortnite and another game, Apex Legends, reign supreme as of right now.

Apex Legends released in 2019 to critical acclaim, just as Fortnite did back in 2017. However, even though Fortnite is the bigger game and has been around longer, it appears that developers Epic Games are paying close attention to Apex‘s features.

Fortnite mimicking Apex Legends’ mechanics

Back in April of last year, we saw an update in Fortnite that introduced the Reboot Van. This enabled players to pick up an eliminated teammate’s respawn card and deliver it to the van where the dead players could be brought back into the game.

Of course, we know that Epic Games didn’t come up with this idea on its own. Apex Legends, released in February of that same year, launched with the Respawn Beacon, which acts the same as the Reboot Van. When Apex Legends launched, this was one of the many features that fans praised.

Now, in 2020, it appears that more of Apex Legends‘ mechanics are being copied by Epic Games. Clearly, the developers enjoy what Respawn is implementing into its battle royale. Reddit user evangoose25 has the screenshot to prove it.

They did it again😂😂😂 from apexlegends

Of course, in Season 3 of Apex Legends, Respawn introduced Vaults that are opened with Vault Keys. The Vaults contain high-tier loot, making the keys extremely sought-after. In Fortnite Season 2, Epic Games has implemented Vaults that are opened with keycards dropped by various NPC bosses.

It’s not a coincidence that these features are coming to Fortnite after they released in Apex Legends. Epic Games has created possibly the biggest game on the planet but that doesn’t mean it can’t draw inspiration from a successful competitor.

 

How you look at this is up to you, but it’s not a crime to mimic the competition. After all, the battle royale genre is flooded with titles that all took inspiration from the games that released before them.

Which battle royale do you enjoy more? Let us know, and keep up with Daily Esports for all Fortnite coverage.