Are Fortnite Chapters Too Short?

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Published 2024-05-16
Fortnite chapters are significantly shorter than they used to be and it raises the question: were two-year chapters better and what are the potential negatives of longer chapters?

Parts
intro 0:00
The Negatives of Longer Chapters 0:47
Chapter 3's problematic map 5:17
The Negatives of One-Year Chapters 7:32
Conclusion: 10:00

All Comments (21)
  • 2 year chapters make the maps more iconic, I already forgot about all the one year ones, they seem so irrelevant
  • I feel like the longer chapters allow all the poi’s to be fleshed out so much better so that we actually care about the map.
  • @Hasty12YT
    if chapter 3 was 2 years long it would have been so much better
  • @4NDR31_4L1N
    From my experience with Fortnite, I think 2 year chapters are better for creating updates, maintaining the map by keeping it a longer time, having to spend less resources and also having enough time to do a very good chapter, like Chapter 2. I don't like these 1 year chapters much, because of 1 year completely changing map that makes me confused af when I see the new weapons again, the map being extremely inconfortable at first sight and yeah...pretty much just bs after chapter 2 + the weapons should be at least used and not forgotten in creative.
  • @eli3dx523
    Donald Mustard had said that the main character from Fortnite was the map, this is why both chapters 1 and 2 were 2 years long because in Donald's mind it gave him enough time to fully develop the character of the "Map".
  • @ghjjiyeqsg1052
    With Chapters 1 & 2, players could get attached to the POIs that stuck around the most, such as Pleasant Park, Titled Towers, Dusty Depot/Divot, Risky Reels, etc. On top of that, you had content gold for many creators who came to know these POIs and do stupid shit with them. Story was bigger and had even some smaller ones like The Chair, The Gnome Family, etc. Certain skins from the BP actually had backstory, connections, and impact on the lore as a whole. Chapters 3 and 4 completely changed this flow, going for a much more quick and hustle-esque style. In Chapter 3, you went from new island, new paradise to ‘Paradise’, having it go from “Thank You , The Seven” to “Ending IO’s Career” to “My House by Flo Rida” (Party, basically), to “Why is everything becoming shiny?”. In moments, you had the Reality Tree biome-ify Greasy and the surrounding area, and the Sanctuary turned into a Chrome Castle the next season. Course, that’s not as bad as the next chapter, no. Chapter 4 gave us all the big name POIs and stuff, with one of them only getting spotlight for one season that chapter: Faulty Splits. After C4S1, it got consumed by the Neo Tokyo biome and POIs like Mega City and Kenjutsu Crossing. Wilds season wiped out Anvil Square and gave us some Jungle POIs and a biome. Then, in the last season of Chapter 4, Eclipsed Estate wiped out The Citadel, and Sanguine Suites wiped out Lonely Labs. And so far, Chapter 5 has followed much of the same. Ritzy Rivera got nuked by The Underworld and Grim Gate, while Hazy Hillside was wiped by Mount Olympus and Brawler’s Battleground, while Ruined Reels became Restored Reels. My point being is that Epic is, essentially, going by drop spot behavior. When they see a POI that most don’t land at, they’ll nuke it just to get a fresh one in there, hence why each chapter always has that one, two, maybe even three or four POIs that don’t undergo a single massive change over the course of the chapter, while less popular ones (Faulty Splits, Anvil Square, Ritzu Rivera, and Hazy Hillside) all get canned after a season or two without any real impact on the playerbase. 2 year seasons worked better cause we at least got some POIs that stuck around for three before even being severely altered/replaced completely, where now it’s either in one or two seasons before a POI is nuked in favor of a new one. Yes, I typed this all out cause I watched the full video and I see the positives and negatives, but as he said, “Epic is prioritizing Quantity over Quality”
  • @HeisenbergH20
    You also have to remember they reset the chapter around Christmas time almost every time. To give that bare bones first season a spice up with Christmas. And it almost always works
  • @applejuice7122
    I’ve enjoyed chapter 5 so far, but there was something about chapter 4 that felt very fresh and I loved all of the coloring of the map. It was so nice.
  • Short answer is yes, more time for people to actually learn to love the chapter and grow memories from them. That’s one of the reasons chapters one and two were so beloved. Also, there is more room for live events and even story elements.
  • @calvinsallee
    2 year chapters were sick. But by the end your really feeling map fatuege. 1 year tho? Too short man. I feel like time goes by too quick for them. 1.5 years tho? Sounds perfect to me
  • @JamesTheFoxeArt
    I think 2 year chapters are just a more stable formula for the game, gives the devs some breathing room to work on the games content, and work on the next map more as well, and with Epic whole metaverse idea, it's probablythe better option. I think besides chapters 3 which was not intended to be 1 years, most people have just not liked the one year chapters as much as the 2 year chapters.
  • @Momolo328
    I don’t care how long it is, I just want that storyline back
  • @clacktrak
    It feels like Fortnite is finding it harder to make a single Fortnite Chapter interesting so that makes me worried for the future of the game. Also Chapters having only 4 seasons sounds dumb and they should also have more seasons for a chapter.
  • @onyx_vii7808
    1.5 year long chapters with new seaons every 2 months. I think this is the sweet spot. Gives enough time for the map to have some longevity whilst also keeping players engaged in new seasons. Would never happen obviously. They would run out of ideas too fast at that rate. But what they are doing right now is good too; from both a player aspect and developer aspect. Its good for both the way they have it tbh.
  • @chemkip2697
    I just miss the story and the hype around live events
  • @Rublox
    I think the sweet spot is 5-6 seasons. This gives a little bit more time to appreciate the map and play it, and it also creates diversity so not every chapter end is going to be around the exact same date
  • @Sparxzy
    Chapter 3 is the only 1 year chapter I have nostalgia from really, even though I still think Chapter 2 and 1 are better, if it had more time I think it could’ve surpassed them if Epic actually put there all into the seasons
  • @YoshiSaikono
    I honestly love this video and the points that you make. I actually agree with the idea of the director deciding the length of the timeline of the chapter based on how the story is going and honestly think that with how things are now, the chapters are too short. I recall hearing accounts from Fortnite developers about the extensive cuts made to shorten the season, affecting the length of the story, map changes, and a lot of other important key events that would explain certain plot holes we have today. It's really sad that because of this direction Epic has taken, we have unintentionally lost a lot of live events and map transformations. It's not like I insist on the chapters lasting 2 years, but I dislike the predictability during live events. For instance, if a nuclear warhead was about to be launched on the map and we had to stop it, the outcome is evident when there are still 4 more seasons remaining in the chapter. Which ruins the immersion. Instead, game chapters should progress in a manner similar to how chapters unfold in a book. They should end naturally when the chapter has wrapped up; it's part of the story. It should not be stretched out unnecessarily, but it should leave us with memories we can remember while also telling us a masterpiece of a story. (Some of this might be the "metaverses" fault because investors are always looking for change but that's something else to go into) with all that aside, I appreciate the time and effort you put into this video and I really wish for someone at epic to come across this video and take notes (because the community is what makes anything work.. including fortnite)
  • @jaredtamay8824
    Idc what yall think, chapter 3 was GOATED, best chapter imo
  • @vanamelon9988
    This video perfectly read my thoughts on the pacing of Fortnite chapters that I didn’t even know I had.