Fortnite is a free-to-play third-person shooter with building mechanics. The title has become a cultural sensation due to its unique blend of expressive gameplay. Back in February 2018, Epic Games stated that the title was played by roughly 3.4 million gamers concurrently. Since then, that figure has ballooned to 8.3 million. Considering that there are so many players, the revenue generated from people buying the campaign and microtransactions is significant to say the least. In order to keep players coming back for more, the developer needs to add new features.
Today, the company announced that it was bringing the controversial Glider Redeploy back in Version 7.20 of Fortnite. The team issued the following statement and detailed changes to the item.
We're bringing back Glider Redeploy in v7.20 as a new item, find out more information in our blog https://t.co/JU6RyXMxz5We're bringing back Glider Redeploy in v7.20 as a new item, find out more information in our blog https://t.co/JU6RyXMxz5— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 14, 2019January 14, 2019
There was a very split response on the mechanic which revealed some positives as well as some negatives. We removed the mechanic from default modes, but feel an alternative implementation will help in solving some of those negatives and better suits our goals. The goal with the item is to provide mobility and utility, but in a form that can be balanced and iterated upon. By implementing glider redeploy as an item we can iterate on multiple different levels... We'll be watching the item closely and adjusting as necessary.
- The glider item will take up an inventory slot and can be found from normal loot sources.
- Each deploy will remove one charge, when all charges are used the item disappears.
- The new Glider Redeploy item can be found in floor loot, chests, vending machines, and llamas.
- When you drop from the Battle Bus, you will automatically be granted a glider item with fifty charges. This counts as being put into skydiving mode which will not consume a charge of the glider item.
Hopefully the Glider Redeploy will be a balancing addition this time around. However, only time will tell.
