Fortnite Players For Life?: East students react to the Fortnite “OG” map being reinstated and taken away

The original Fortnite map was re-released for a limited time on Nov. 3 before being taken down on Dec. 2. Epic Game’s month-long event brought the company over 100 million players in the week of its release, capturing the attention of both old and new players.

The “OG” map consists of original playable locations from the game’s first season after launching in 2017. Popular locations like Pleasant Park and the Haunted Hills returned during the short blast-from-the-past. Although the maps and general scenery were the same as they were six years ago, the design was modernized with updated graphics to entice new players.

Players that are currently in high school were in elementary or middle school when the OG map was first available — only adding to the sentimentality of the game when Epic Games announced their re-release on Oct. 27.

Junior Sam Day was excited to play the game when the map came out to relive the things he enjoyed about the game during its peak popularity.

“I don’t think I enjoyed Fortnite OG because it was a particularly good game,” Day said. “It was mostly the nostalgia that made it fun.”

Many, like junior Brady Haughton, hadn’t played Fortnite for years. This mirrors a pattern in the game’s involvement since its peak in June 2018, when it reached a record 125 million players shortly after its release of the Nintendo Switch.

“Everyone used to play until it got boring and old,” Haughton said. “Then they came back with the OG map and everyone I know hopped back on.”

While the limited release made many players dust off their Fortnite skills, for some it was only fleeting. Now that the map is gone, the joy of reminiscing their childhoods has disappeared for players like Haughton.

“I think it’s definitely faded in and out of popularity,” Haughton said. “Now [that the map is gone] it’s back to bad Fortnite and I haven’t played.”

According to Esports.net, the company teased the possibility of another limited time or permanent release of the popular map coming in 2024. This is likely to increase player engagement for the company and re-engage players who enjoyed the map when it came back this year.

Both Day and Haughton look forward to seeing if Fortnite will reinstate the map that makes the game worth playing. But, at least they got to enjoy the short-lived month of nostalgia the OG map brought them.