Fortnite’s Original Save the World Mode Finally Going Free-to-Play, and Launching For Switch 2

Save the World, Fortnite’s original PVE survival mode, is finally going free-to-play after almost nine years.

From April 16, all Fortnite players will be able to access Save the World without having to purchase access — as long as they play via a supported platform. To date, the mode is unavailable on Nintendo Switch, Switch 2 and smartphones. On April 16, however, Switch 2 players will also gain access for the first time.

Back in the bygone days of summer 2017, Fortnite only existed as its Save the World portion. A mix of zombie shooting and base building, it made a modest impact — but is now far more famous as being the precursor to Fortnite’s hugely popular battle royale.

In the time since, and despite an initial plan to make Save the World free to all players years ago, developer Epic Games has kept its PVE offering paywalled off, accessed via a rotating selection of add-on packs. Updates to the mode have been sporadic, though continue to bring occasional drops of new content or gameplay tweaks.

Now, however, all of that is going away — so if you want to give Save the World a go, you’ll soon be able to. A website with a community goal to drive interest ahead of April 16 has also now been launched, with a smattering of free rewards if you register there.

It’s been a busy week for Fortnite, which began by teasing its latest battle royale season that’s set to welcome back its fan-favorite character voiced by Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. Yesterday, however, brought news of a very different kind — sweeping changes to the game’s pricing and availability of its V-Bucks currency, which billion dollar publisher Epic Games blamed on needing to “pay the bills.”

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social