Video: Here's How Fortnite On Switch Compares To The PS4 Version

The biggest difference is that Nintendo won't lock your Epic account if you play it on the Switch.

The graphics are fine. The bigger issue I thought is that it seriously drained my battery, quicker than any other game I've played yet. It was crazy watching it drop so fast. And the fans worked overtime.

Did anyone else notice this? Perhaps I just need to restart. To be fair it was very hot in my house last night too.

I guess it's not that bad though because the chances are if you've got an internet connection you also have access to a plug.

@admwllms I had the same situation, battery draining much faster than other games, it does this with Pokemon Quest as well.

@deKay F*** Sony, the game looks identical.

@Skorpion24 strange, I haven't actually played Pokemon Quest I must admit, but it didn't look particularly intensive. Maybe it can be sorted with a patch then.

I downloaded it last night. Never played it before, but it’s quite fun. Not entirely my cup of tea, but I’ll probably play it some more tonight.

As for the port, the only thing that bugged me about it, is distant players move at a massively reduced frame rate. Not sure if this happens with other versions, but it makes it hard to aim from a distance.

I tried it, but I couldn't help wondering how my Fallout Shelter was doing, so I quit. I'll try again later. I can imagine this being a great time waster if you're into it, but personally, I'd rather waste it on Fallout Shelter (and other games and more important stuff)

I'm gonna end up playing this a lot more on Switch now that I can play it when, where, and however I want.

@Skorpion24 I played Pokemon Quest (swapping it out with Fallout Shelter when I ran out of goes) most of yesterday on a single charge. From about 9am to 3pm. Battery drained much more slowly than with most other games!

@TrumpsHand There is literal, visual proof of it looking different and therefore not identical.

@admwllms How long does the battery last on the PS4 version?

@Menchi187 Yeah, it's clearly different. Not in any way that I can see it playing different though. It's close enough and even closer when moving. Especially in handheld mode.

@deKay Hmm maybe I need a calibration or something after the latest firmware update I got this battery problems

the game looks and plays like hot garbage on the switch

definitely gonna stick with the PS4

@deKay it plays like crap compared to the ps4 version

@admwllms Yep same here. Battery went from 92% down to 51% within 40 mins or so.

So you barely get 80-90 mins out of a full battery. Basically only 70 mins, as you should not drain your battery to 0% all the time. That is extremely bad for the longetivity of the battery.

I have a feeling it's the WiFi that is causing the drain, since Xenoblade Cronicles and Zelda BotW drain almost half as fast as Fortnite.

Sony and Nintendo is trying to block account, I don't no why? maybe bullying and trolling of between sony vs nintendo company, because Sony Ruined Handheld Dream like PS VITA is a flap.

@nolil Only Sony blocks it, as they don't allow cross play.

Nintendo does not block the account!

@Jeronan Of course only Sony Blocks it. But can only access pc, xbox one and switch. Sony is already ignored PS VITA developer game. PS VITA is kindly dead.

@Jeronan yeah that makes sense. Not the end of the world and I'd much rather have a game that drains battery than not have it at all, of course.

Good to know I'm not the only one anyway!

I Mention Nintendo Switch Graphic is little bit Ok, But Nvidia Tegra Graphic is much more drains battery especially small CPU FAN are increase air flow heatpipe and little bit noisy so the switch makes cooler. So make myself as preset setting to 480p and RGB Limited Range.

I like it, and runs and looks great, but I'm miffed we didnt, and probably wont get Save the world. It's the mode I most wanted, and was ready to pay for. Oh well, Paladins founders pack ahoy!

Looks and plays absolutely great on the Switch. Cannot understand some of the users above that are negative about it.

I got sucked into the game last night. Like I previously posted before, I couldn't get into the game on my PS4 despite my kids going crazy for everything Fortnite. Upon hearing that it was coming to Switch, I made a decision to give it a fair chance on my preferred system. I ended up playing for about an hour or two last night. I had some early success...minor early success.

@PhilKenSebben Me too! I want that mode more then the mode that we got. I wish everyday for Left4Dead or something similar.

I almost forgot, as for the graphics, I've been watching my sons play on the PS4 for months and when we fired up the Switch, it looked very similar. I couldn't see a distinct difference.

It doesn't "sort out the Switch's voice chat nightmare" at all.

@dkxcalibur i had never played it until last night and it's quite fun. It's weirdly low on action though and more about hiding. I am yet to kill a sinlge person though. I hoped on at half six this morning before work and had a couple of fun games. I think all in all this is a great assset to the system and the voice chat implementation lights the way for a brighter future.

@AcridSkull @AcridSkull It will dof rom tomorrow, it's not live until Thursday.

@PhilKenSebben Its a mobile port, im guessing that's why.

@YANDMAN I've never been a Fortnite player. I work from home and downloaded it during a lengthy meeting yesterday and launched a game, mainly just to see how it ran. I landed near a large building, ran inside, grabbed a pump shotgun, and sat in a corner for the next 20 minutes so I could work while the circle closed in on me. Without ever moving, it was down to me and 1 other player, who apparently built a tower on top of me. I run up it, shoot 1 shot, and kill him... won my first game with only seeing 1 person and firing 1 shot. I took a screenshot of that one XD Haven't been close to winning since (Only played maybe 5 games).

@YANDMAN I suck at these games but I still have fun! Last night, I actually had one game where I landed 4 kills and I was in the top 10. I think you're jumping in at a good time, right at the start like most of the people playing on Switch. Now is the time to learn how this game works. Good Luck and have fun!

@Jeronan Rocket League and FIFA drain the battery fast too. It's definitely being online that's playing its part but Splatoon 2 isn't as bad as those. When visiting the Eshop with RL or FIFA opened, it lags really bad, Fortnite seems to be the same. They must be really pushing the RAM to its limits.

@YANDMAN no, it won't.

When I play Fortnite the Switch have noisy like increase air flow of small cpu fan. You cannot change the speed of fan its automatically
so lets system can control support or else you might be shut off randomly while increase overheat the cpu and graphic.

@Jeronan 92% Battery fast drain thats why because built-in small cpu fan is needed increase air flow it's almost about 51% and much more graphics.

the real difference? i can play everywhere. sony players must play only in a tv

I finally downloaded and played this game to see why there is so much hype for the game. 2 hours in and I am tempted to check my phone while playing. It's not holding my interest at all.

I mean, it's awesome when I think about how it is a totally free game. But I have other, better games that I already bought that I find a lot more fun.

@Jeronan @OorWullie It could be using the secondary GPU clock mode.

A curious title, although with remarkably few tutorials by modern standards. XD Guess all is there in the manuals, huh? Took me several matches to even understand what was going on and how to distinguish teammates from enemies. If it's 50 vs 50, why are select few players shown with their names and plenty more just with triangles? I spent at least one match trying to shoot the latter, probably came across like a total jerkass (I mean, beyond me usually being an actual one in life).

It's also a bit dissonant for a JRPG nerd like me - you're dropped into a world full of objects and resources and things to collect, and you can build stuff, but you're constantly on the clock as the storm is eating up the map and you're supposed to fight rather than explore. Well, I knew I was trying a BR title, but all the other mechanics it offers can be enticingly distracting - and evoke disappointment in the fact you can't stay for long and snoop around at your own pace.

@GammaPhonic I was the same way. Played it for a few days, stopped for about a month, and now I've played it almost every day for the last month. I don't even like shooters usually! But now I'm thinking maybe I do? Hahaha

I'm not really into this type of thing, but this looks pretty cool for what it is, and it's visually impressive on Switch. Leave it to Epic....idTech vs. UE....who would have thought the 90's PC engine battle would continue on Nintendo.

But when did this genre get labeled "battle royale"? It used to be Deathmatch for ages and ages. This seems to be a new phrase the youngsters are using.

I tried this game out last night and I had no idea what the heck was going on. It started up and just started me in a game with other people gamey and i was just running around pressing buttons to see what they do and breaking stuff with my tool while getting shot at. Is there a way to play this not online so I can practise?

This really does showcase that Epic worked hard to get a game out that could scale to just about any system, and look very similar. Really impressive. Agreed about the comments on battery drainage, it does take a lot out of it.

My kids reported no differences (that they cared about) between Xbox 1 and Switch. They were thrilled to learn that by logging in with their Epic accounts (created for Xbox play), all of their purchases were available on the Switch. Great that Nintendo is now apart of the Fortnite phenomenon.

@NEStalgia The only real difference is the shrinking battle space and the fact that you don't respawn. It leads to a slower, more methodical pace. Otherwise, it's very similar to the deathmatch modes of yore.

EDIT: I guess also a trademark of the "genre" is that you typically start with no weapons. You drop in and loot for items. Still, it is similar in theory.

@deKay I'd like to know how many people would have been doing this anyways? Sounds like a niche issue inflated by folks attempting to divert attention away from a disappointing Nintendo showing at E3 honestly.

@admwllms you’re not crazy. My battery drained pretty fast playing fortnite as well. I need to check next time I play to see how fast it drains from full to low battery

I'm a BIG Nintendo fan and I love how they got Fortnite running on the Switch but come on folks, this version is awful compared with PS4, Xbox One and even the iOS version.

In handheld mode you will be hard pressed to see anybody in the distance without a scope and if you do, they move at about 5fps meaning aiming is hit or, mainly, miss.

The graphics are rough and there's a lot of pop in during docked mode. It's playable but not great.

@dkxcalibur Thank you my friend, i fully intend to have some fun. It certainly has a lot of appeal that i'm sure will only get stronger.

@bluedogrulez There's a big difference between both versions in terms of draw distance and, sometimes, frame rate.

@nhSnork The players with names are your squad mates.

@AcridSkull They've said voice chat doesn't go live until tomorrow. My issue with the game is actually how the hell do you play it or what are you supposed to do? i spawned on a map and was running around miles from everyone and got kllled in a storm then had to restart. Any kind of tutorial wouldn't go a miss for new players. I want to give this game a fair chance just to see what the fuss is about, but so far i don't see the appeal. And what is the actual point of building stuff? what purpose does it serve in the game?

I have a question. Is there a way to view your stats like eliminations, wins and games played? All I can find is view profile and when I click it it says view your user screen. I don not know where this is.

I never really got into the BR scene, the first time was when I tried PUBG on mobile, and I gotta say I prefer TDM. I’m enjoying Paladins, but Switch really needs a COD or BF game desperately.

@PlayedNSlayed : The "storm" is a way to confine the players into progressively smaller areas. There is a white circle on the map on the top right that indicates where you are proximate to the circle. Be inside the circle to avoid the storm.

Building stuff allows you to create shelters or as hunters call them, blinds. You might be pinned down behind it but you can emerge from behind it unexpectedly and shoot down your opposition.

I'm sure there are some quick youtube tutorials out there from skilled players....

@PlayedNSlayed well, there is a map, on the map is a circle that keeps getting smaller, stay in the circle or die, there are 99 players with you and it’s last man standing. If you die that’s it, you have the restart. I’d love to see BR mode die tbh, 100 people running around the map in TDM would be better imo, 10 teams of 10, and no shrinking the map, just make it smaller so it’s more tactical.

When does crazy justice hit the eshop, today isn’t it?

@DizzyDee81 @bluedogrulez Thanks I'll give it another go and see if i can survive a bit longer

@Monkeyofthefunk as it's one of the most updated games currently out there i'm confident they will tune it in. The other versions were not all amazing to begin with and are still constantly being tweaked.

@YANDMAN Fingers crossed. I've managed a few kills but they're a lot harder to pull off at distance than on other consoles.

@Monkeyofthefunk I haven't killed anybody yet.

The water looks very much better on the ps4, but the rest is very similar.

@NEStalgia it's from the "battle royale" films where one hundred people are dropped on an island for a fight to the death until only one survives. Death matches are the classic timer based games where it's the player with the most kills and least deaths that wins. Quite different experiences really....

@PlayedNSlayed the voice chat they're adding tomorrow doesn't fix anything.

@YANDMAN It's not easy because the frame rate is terrible. Compared to other versions it's terrible.

@nhSnork time to retire grandma.

@PlayedNSlayed try YouTube buddy. Or a Google search

In terms of frame rate, the game aims to hit 30 FPS. However, we can see that there are some dips and fluctuations – some more noticeable than others.

Fortnite uses a dynamic resolution when docked and in portable modes. When docked, the lowest native resolution found is approximately 1093×615 while the highest was 1600×900. Additionally, temporal upsampling is used to increase the pixel count up to 1600×900 when the native resolution is below this figure.

The lowest resolution in portable mode was found to be roughly 768×432. As for the highest, VG Tech found 1280×720 (Switch’s natural portable resolution). Temporal upsampling is again used here to increase the pixel count up to 720p when the native resolution drops below this.

omg LOL

@Smash_kirby That is not possible! Nintendo restricts CPU/GPU clockspeeds on the Switch.

It's not possible for a game to run the CPU/GPU at docked clockspeeds while in handheld mode!

Lots of folks saying it drains the battery. I would prefer it being hard on the battery over Epic killing the experience. Battery packs are cheap if folks have WiFi but no AC power. Game looks great. Nintendo needs some more mainstream support.

@admwllms Yeah, mine was like that too, though the fans weren't terrible

@Aven No, not yet, the game is currently to easy do to a high number of new players, so wins and kills don't count, however they are adding this to the iOS version soon, so after switch version is out for a while, they will most likely do the same

@PlayedNSlayed The goal is to not give up, the game is really hard to get good at, the are realising a practice mode very soon, so that should help

I've downloaded it but haven't played it ...

@Jeronan There are three speed modes for the GPU of the Nintendo Switch, there is a docked speed, tablet base speed, and a third speed which is clocked higher than the tablet speed.

@Monkeyofthefunk it's not the framerate that's killing me , it's other peoples guns.

iOS version is the best.

@NEStalgia

Perhaps because it's not Deathmatch? When you die, do you respawn and kill again? Are you fighting over a total Kill counter? Nope.

It's last man standing style.

@Alcovitch Yeah, I saw the Treehouse segment after posting here....honestly that looks awful. That's a lot of time just waiting around watching killcams and favors a good experience for experienced players and an awful experience for new players. I'm hoping you can just bail after getting killed and jumping in a new server because that would suck otherwise.

@PlayedNSlayed I'd suggest going to youtube and searching for beginner guides or quick tips.

Honestly, you have internet yet can't take 5 mins to look up a game and get an idea of how it plays/inform yourself?

@NEStalgia Yes you can bail the moment you die or continue spectating.

@Alcovitch That makes it a lot more palatable!

I'm honestly enjoying the Fortnite on Switch. When it launched, I figured that was the time to try it and I quite like it. One thing I did do was set a force bed time alert for 11pm so that I wouldn't be up playing it all night. I've learned something: never get too obsessed with a game. For me, it disrupts sleep.

Sorry, got off track. My point here is: It's not as bad as people make it out to be. Nintendo doesn't lock your account to their platform AND it's actually decent in docked mode (frame-rate wise, unless you have a bad connection). If you do have trouble, find the manual server location toggle and find one with the lowest number of ms reach.

for all the sonic fans there is some bleach under the sink

Not that much difference.

@Menchi187 As someone who started playing this game when it launched on the other platforms, I choose to play the Switch version over any other version, and none of the lower res or fps have a significant impact of my enjoyment of the game on Switch.

None of what you said matters, because the game is fun.