Fortnite Creative mode just launched for all players – here's why you should care

Fortnite battle royale

Fortnite Creative Mode is now available to the public, after a week-long closed beta to test out the new crafting tools being offered to players in Fortnite Season 7.

The previous week has seen growing curiosity in the potential of Fortnite's budding forge mode, which allows players to create and design their own 'islands' with a variety of creation tools.

The beta was originally limited to players with a Season 7 Battle Pass, though it's now opening up to any and everyone playing the cartoonish shooting / crafting game.

Crafting and building has always been part of Fortnite's DNA, with the ability to build structures out of crafting materials mid-game - for cover or navigation - proving a crucial part of any player's battle royale strategy.

Creative Mode takes this to its natural conclusion, with a 'Private Island' players can shape and populate with buildings, furniture, and obstacles, and have a crack at somewhere to either trade bullets or just share your creative output. Double-tapping the jump button will also let your character fly freely around the level to appreciate in all its glory.

Fortnite battle royale season 7

Fortnite Season 7 goes festive for the holiday season

There are limits to how much you can build in one area, but once you've made something your happy with, up to 16 friends can join you in the fray for a variety of match types, or just let them wander and tweak your designs. 

Islands can then be shared with the wider community, or submitted for consideration in the main Fortnite Battle Royale map, in a 25x25 tile area known as 'The Block'.

Beginning to look a lot like Minecraft

 Fortnite gets a lot of updates, with a new Season launching every 10 weeks and numerous smaller changes and tweaks paced throughout that period. Creative Mode, however, is essentially a whole new gameplay experience.

Fortnite very much has its own identity, and has managed to become the definitive battle royale experience, despite determined opposition from PUBG (PlayerUnknown Battlegrounds), which is where the current trend for 100-player free-for-all matches really started.

But the Creative Mode seems to take inspiration from another source. Minecraft, the equally massive sandbox game led entirely by the pull of user-generated content, where players can build and craft to their heart's content.

Creative Mode as it stands is basically a blueprint, and could well develop into a serious rival to Minecraft if done right. 

Fortnite certainly has the infrastructure - and the solid 125 million player base - to make Creative Mode a force to contend with.

Henry St Leger

Henry is a freelance technology journalist, and former News & Features Editor for TechRadar, where he specialized in home entertainment gadgets such as TVs, projectors, soundbars, and smart speakers. Other bylines include Edge, T3, iMore, GamesRadar, NBC News, Healthline, and The Times.

Latest in Consoles & PC
Image of Naoe in AC Shadows
Assassin's Creed Shadows is hands-down one of the most beautiful PC ports I've ever seen
Image of AC Shadows cover art & Steam Deck
It's not perfect, but Assassin's Creed Shadows' performance is impressive - it runs smoothly on the Steam Deck and Asus ROG Ally
Steam Deck OLED in limited edition white color
With a single update SteamOS could turbocharge handheld PCs – here's how
Samus Aran leaping through space
Metroid Prime 4 tipped to be at the heart of April's Nintendo Switch 2 deep-dive
Nintendo Switch 2
Nintendo Switch 2 expected to have AI upscaling and I can't wait to finally play Tears of the Kingdom with upgraded graphics
Asus ROG Ally using Steam
I think Asus could be the perfect partner for an Xbox handheld – but I have questions
Latest in News
Microsoft
"Another pair of eyes" - Microsoft launches all-new Security Copilot Agents to give security teams the upper hand
Cassian Andor looking nervously over his shoulder in Andor season 2
New Andor season 2 trailer has got Star Wars fans asking the same question – and it includes an ominous call back to Rogue One's official teaser
Ncuti Gatwa as The Fifteenth Doctor in Doctor Who
Disney+ drops new trailer for Doctor Who season 2 that promises an epic adventure across time and space
23andMe
23andMe is bankrupt and about to sell your DNA, here's how to stop that from happening
A phone showing a ChatGPT app error message
ChatGPT was down for many – here's what happened
AirPods Max with USB-C in every color
Apple's AirPods Max with USB-C will get lossless audio in April, but you'll need to go wired