The world of gaming has been on the rise for the past 15 years, many games have had their highs and their lows, but one in particular stuck out this November, Fortnite. But not just Fortnite, OG Fortnite. 6 years ago the world was introduced to Fortnite Battle Royale, a game where 100 players load into a lobby, drop into a map, and loot up guns to take on their opponents, and the last player standing wins. When the game came out, every couple of months there would be a new season with new spots on the map, and new guns. In the first two years of the game, 10 seasons were loved and hated by many, but after the 10th season, the game switched to a new “Chapter” with completely different poi’s and loot pool. The first 10 seasons were considered OG Fortnite, and that was the peak time for popularity in Fortnite among many kids. In November Fortnite released a “OG season” season where players would be taken back 6 years to their childhood playing the “OG map” with the OG loot pool. Each week the map would switch to the map of the next season, starting with season 5, and ending with season 10 on November 2nd.
“The last time I played before the OG season was about 6 months ago”, Junior Gavin Gataloai said, “I came back to play with my friends and to feel like I was a kid again”.
A key piece to the success of the “OG Season” was the feeling of nostalgia. Nostalgia is a feeling of the past, and in the context of Fortnite, the feeling of being a kid again or the feeling of playing the game for the first time.
“I think so many people came back to play fortnite because of all the hype around the new season, and the fact that it brought back memories that people have made on the old map”, Senior Jack Tobin said.
On Saturday November 4th, one day after the OG update, Fortnite broke its own record for most players playing in a single day. 44.7 million players played the OG season, with 102 million hours of play, according to engadget.com. At one point on that Saturday, there were 1.8 million people playing at one time.
On December 2nd, the season ended leaving many players sad to see the old map leave. However Fortnite tweeted out that same day,
“Ngl the OG season far exceeded our expectations. So much so that we’d like to bring it back…*opens 2024 roadmap doc*. In the meantime, see you on the Battle Bus”. So according to Fortnite, it seems as though the OG Season will make a return yet again next year.
