Epic Games boss reveals he tried to CANCEL £6 billion hit game Fortnite before it was released

FORTNITE might be the most profitable, most played and most popular video game in history, but it very nearly didn't exist at all.
A former director of Epic Games revealed he tried to cancel the game before it ever saw the light of day because it just wasn't good enough.
"If I stayed at Epic, I would have cancelled Fortnite," Rod Fergusson told during a chat at E3.
Fergusson worked at Epic Games before leaving in 2012.
Fortnite's total revenue is hard to pin down, but we know that in-app purchases made the firm around £2billion in 2018 alone - and the game's success coincided with Epic Games' market valuation jumping around £6 billion.
Fergusson eventually ended up at The Coalition in 2014 when Epic sold the rights to Gears of War to Microsoft Game Studios and Fergusson moved back to the series.
"Before I left, I tried to cancel Fortnite. When it was Save the World... that was a project that had some challenges," he said.
"And as the director of production at the time, that game would not have passed my bar."
What is Save The World?
FORNITE is best known for its Battle Royale mode, but there is more to it.
While that is a free-for-all competitive mode where up to 100 players compete to be the last player standing, Save The World is a much friendlier experinece.
It uses similar mechanics, though with a much wider range of weapons and different characters to choose from.
It is a story-drive mode where up to four players co-operate on missions, either defending or attacking fixed points on a variety of maps.
Fighting is with various flavours zombie-like husks, and the building mechanics are generally used to keep those husks away from whatever it is you're defending.
It's grown significantly since launch - but, unlike the Battle Royale mode you still have to pay for it.
It does have its charms, but had it not been for the Battle Royale mode it would have sunk without trace and been forgotten long ago.
The free-to-play Battle Royale mode was added to Fortnite quite late on in development, and even that didn't become an instant hit.It took several months to gather momentum before it really took off, making millions in the process.
"That game you love - that worldwide sensation - would not exist had I stayed at Epic," Fergusson confirmed, but said he was "super happy" for Epic's success with the game.
While Fortnite looks to have peaked, Epic is in the midst of trying to gin up interest using some of those millions.
A £30m World Cup tournament is under way, with the final set for July 26-28 at the Arthur Ashe stadium in New York.
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Even that hasn't been without incident, though, with many being unhappy after two cheats qualified for the final, guaranteeing themselves a £84,000 payday despite being busted for cheating.
Two hundred other entrants had prize money taken away in the first week alone.
Playing Save The World will and PC, but only £32.99 on PS4.
The Battle Royale Mode is still free to start, though you have to buy in-game currency to pay for skins and each season's battle pass to get the most out of the game.
Fergusson and The Coalition are currently working on Gears 5, which is due out on September 10.
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