Aliens have made first contact in Fortnite by abducting unsuspecting players in a new UFO event. After a number of teases and what seemed like weeks of leaks, the UFOs have finally arrived in Fortnite, and players of the world-famous battle royale are in their crosshairs. Online, clips of players being abducted are beginning to surface as the event gets underway.
Fortnite is one of the biggest battle royale games in the world. Released back in 2017, the game soon took the industry by storm, exceeding 350 million players in May 2020. Epic Games, the developer, has earned over 2 billion dollars from the game. While Fortnite is free to play, it has a number of cosmetics and battle passes that are updated seasonally for players to purchase. These days the game is seen as something of a cultural phenomenon, hosting virtual events such as concerts and movie screenings. Streaming has also contributed to the game’s success, with online personalities such as Ninja pulling huge followings of fans into the game.
On June 1st, Twitter user iFireMonkey posted a video of a player being abducted inside the game by what appeared to be a UFO. In the video, the player character's avatar can be seen being engulfed in a bright green light and raised into the air. The player was then dematerialized. This is all a part of Fortnite’s newest seasonal event, which was added in the usual Tuesday patch. While thanks to data miners the details of the UFO event were already known, when it was going to drop was unknown. It seems that Epic wanted to quietly begin the new season so as to surprise as many players as possible, and for the most part, it looks like the company's efforts have paid off.
Online, there are a ton of videos of players being abducted in-game, and many players are confused about what is happening. At the moment these abductions heal the player to 100 health and shields, before randomly dropping them somewhere on the island. Being abducted can be pretty helpful, unless one is playing with a squad who could be split up by an untimely abduction. More about the event is sure to unfold over the next week; it's likely that Epic has plenty more alien-themed events up its sleeve.
This is all in the lead up to the 7th season of Fortnite on June 8. Season 7 will undoubtedly be alien-themed, and it will also come with a Loki Battle Pass cosmetic to unlock. This is a great time to get back into Fortnite before the season really kicks off and players start hunting for weekly challenges and discovering just what these mysterious extraterrestrial visitors have in store.
Source: iFireMonkey/Twitter