There’s a running joke within the Fortnite community, and it’s the game’s Switch version. Despite offering improved fidelity and better control options than its mobile counterpart, some players regularly jest that it’s inferior and they would prefer to play while hunched over the phone. But why?
Having not played Fortnite on Switch since it first launched, I remembered it not exactly doing the game proud. Lowered frames no matter whether docked or handheld, average visual quality, and some impeccably tinny audio quality failing to bring the game to life like many other of its platforms. With the game now in its second chapter, I decided to jump back in and see if things had changed for the better.
They hadn’t. While still playable on Nintendo’s marvel, Fortnite on Switch lags far behind the experience offered by PS4 and Xbox One, let alone PC.
The most obvious thing is the increased loading with the game seemingly taking a day and age to get you to the Battle Royale menu. This, despite the fact that there’s no Save the World on Switch to worry about. Loading into a game also takes its sweet, sweet time with me worrying the game had crashed a couple of times with the loading bar seemingly fall asleep.
Still, I’m a patient guy, so I eventually found my way into a game. The downgrade in quality from every other platform I’ve played Fortnite on was pretty evident, even from Spawn Island. Frames seemed to chug to even hit 30 with them dipping as low as 20, simply while I was stood waiting for the match to properly begin. We’ll come back to those “killer” frames.
In the Battle Bus, the Fortnite Island below looked a little like porridge, yet that was understandable as draw distance isn’t amazing on other consoles, either. It was all a bit beige, so I jumped out and made my way towards Lazy Lake. Things didn’t get much sexier.
With a fairly big named location like this, the rendering of assets typically takes longer and usually clears up by the time you land. Still, it’s hard not to think of how bad PUBG was when it first landed on Xbox One, and while Fortnite on Switch is infinitely more playable, there’s still work to be done.
Here’s another shot from the same spot, which I flew around and watched as the assets slowly but surely rendered, almost like someone laboriously shuffling a deck of cards.
Once I landed, the visual quality improved, but the performance absolutely tanked it — even while playing docked. I had my first engagement early on, a horrifically bad battle for the ages involving burst rifles with both of us firing shots in anger through the dying frames. The game’s sound didn’t help as I initially thought he was on the floor below but he came careening down the corridor at me instead. The audio design is a little wacky this season in general — you never really know where someone is.
I somehow won the fight, and then picked up what I thought was bandages that actually turned out to be a Rocket Launcher as the icon in my inventory hadn’t updated.
Turns out, you can’t heal wounds with rockets.
I’ve played quite a few games on the Switch since then and have actually done quite well, winning a couple of matches thanks to the stupendously dumb bots and me using a Pro Controller likely being a major advantage. Despite the issues with Fortnite on Switch, I’ve still had fun.
Make no mistake, Fortnite on Switch is still playable and can offer a lot of the same thrills that you’d experience while playing on other platforms. It’s hard to escape the feeling that it’s low on the list of priorities for Epic, though — it doesn’t appear to be in a much better state than when it first launched. Even mobile players can utilise 60fps, while the Switch version still suffers from horrible performance.
Fortnite: Chapter 2 has seen a major rethink from Epic on how they do things, whether that’s the overhauled XP system or the weirdly mysterious updates. While they’re at it, maybe they should give Switch players a bit more love.
Fortnite: Battle Royale is free-to-play on PC via the Epic Games Store, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, iOS, and Android.
MORE FORTNITE:
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