Tim Sweeney on Fortnite’s 'Everything Game' Ambition

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney has outlined his vision for Fortnite's evolution, expressing the developer's ongoing ambition to transform the game from its primary identity as a battle royale into a diverse platform hosting a wide variety of gaming experiences.

Years after the highly publicized "Big Bang" event introduced Lego Fortnite, Rock Band creator Harmonix's Festival mode, and Rocket League developer Psyonix's Rocket Racing, Sweeney told IGN at Unreal Fest 2025 that Epic's main challenge persists: many players still see Fortnite predominantly as a battle royale title.

"Our central challenge is getting everyone to recognize Fortnite as the 'everything game,' where you can find any type of experience," Sweeney explained. "That's going to take time. We need to deliver on many other truly compelling genres."

Progress toward this goal has been consistent. Festival continues to attract major musical artists to headline its seasons, featuring new character skins and music releases. Lego Fortnite Odyssey, a survival crafting adventure, maintains a dedicated player community. However, Rocket Racing has been largely phased out, while newer shooter-focused modes like Reload have gained more traction.

During this week's State of Unreal presentation, Epic highlighted a milestone: a third-party experience within Fortnite briefly surpassed the popularity of Epic's own core modes for the first time—a scenario that seemed unthinkable just a few years ago. Yet, Epic's own non-shooter offerings have not yet replicated this success, with player counts significantly lower than the main Battle Royale and Zero Build playlists, not to mention Reload or the popular Fortnite OG event.

When IGN asked whether engagement levels for modes like Fortnite Festival and the various Lego Fortnite experiences met Epic's expectations, Executive Vice President Sax Persson responded, "I don't think we're ever fully satisfied."

"The shooter modes have performed well," Sweeney added. "But we haven't yet captured the magic we were hoping for with the music gameplay. It's interesting—we brought on the Harmonix team, the creators of Rock Band and Guitar Hero, and they're a fantastic group. They've been experimenting with different approaches to the music genre within Fortnite.

"They've also integrated numerous music items into the game through Jam Tracks, which include not only songs but also all the associated beats, allowing players to perform them on their instruments."

"Music has been remarkably successful in Fortnite, but ironically, not within the music games themselves."

Despite Fortnite's massively popular in-game concerts drawing millions of players and generating huge interest, Epic has yet to find a formula that sustains that level of regular engagement.

"Music has thrived in Fortnite, but paradoxically, not so much in the dedicated music games," Sweeney observed. "It's been more successful in Battle Royale and other areas. Our next objective is to figure out how to scale music experiences.

"I believe there's an opportunity for a music game to attract tens of millions of monthly active users—a game people absolutely love and return to every evening or weekend for incredible concerts and competitive gameplay. That's what Rock Band and Guitar Hero accomplished in their heyday, a decade or two ago."

What about the Lego brand, which is perhaps the most integrated within the Fortnite ecosystem and the most popular of Epic's non-shooter modes?

"Lego is fascinating," Persson remarked. "We're incredibly proud of its journey, and it has a very loyal community. But is it as large as we'd like it to be? No, we'd love to see it grow and find ways to make more Lego fans aware of its existence."

Fortnite Announced for Nintendo Switch 2 - Screenshots

View 11 Images

Once again, it seems Epic is still contending with the perception of Fortnite as primarily a battle royale game.

"What's our biggest hurdle? Fortnite is Fortnite, and historically, it was a shooter game," Persson continued. "It's not just a shooter anymore. It's the 'everything game,' and we need to communicate that story more effectively than we have."

One approach to addressing this will be the upcoming enhancements to Fortnite's Unreal Editor (UEFN) for third-party developers, Sweeney stated. While Epic currently has access to more advanced tools, this disparity will diminish over time. Eventually, by 2026, Epic's own battle royale seasons will be developed using the same tools available to all creators.

"When we develop our modes, we use C++ and the full Unreal Engine, whereas creators use the toolset we built, which includes Verse and specific APIs," Sweeney noted.

"Our major initiative now is to merge these two development frameworks so that both Epic and creators are working with identical tools and capabilities. This will give creators significantly more power, and it's something we've been intensely focused on for the past two years."

"I believe we can only consider Fortnite a success as a complete ecosystem."

But why not simply remain a highly successful battle royale? For Epic, Fortnite's future as a lasting experience—and a major revenue source—depends on its ability to evolve and maintain cultural relevance amidst the constantly shifting trends in popular video games and genres.

"I'd argue that Fortnite is only truly successful as an entire ecosystem," Sweeney concluded. "If another company surpasses us by creating something bigger, cooler, and better than battle royale... I think that's a distinct possibility.

"If you look at the shooter genre's history, it evolved with new game types emerging as technology advanced," he added, citing the progression from simple Deathmatch to modes with larger player counts and vehicles. "Battle Royale happens to be the best shooter genre invented so far—credit to the Japanese filmmakers and [PUBG creator] Brendan Greene for uncovering its appeal. But it's certainly not the final evolution. There will be more innovations, and they will be even better. New technologies will make the impossible possible, unleashing unexpected creativity and surprises."

It has been an eventful week for Epic Games, which has been discussing the future of AI in Unreal Engine and Fortnite, following the recent introduction of a highly conversational AI-powered Darth Vader. We've also received updates from Epic and The Witcher 4 developer CD Projekt Red regarding that impressive demo and whether the final game will resemble it.