Fortnite will stop supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8

Back in December 2022, Fortnite changed with the move to Unreal Engine 5.1. Epic has described the change as "a generational leap in graphic realism", which of course requires a bit of tweaking to the game's hardware requirements. Epic has also warned that, with the release of Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 2, Windows 10 will be considered the minimal operating system.

'As previously announced, starting with Battle Royale Chapter 4 Season 2, players will be required to use Windows 10 or later to continue playing Fortnite natively on PC in an officially supported way,' Epic said. know in my latest What's New section when updating. "Windows 7 and 8 will no longer be officially supported in Fortnite."

Fortnite will stop supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8 Picture 1

The reason behind this Fortnite move was explained in more detail when it was first announced by developer Epic game last year. 'As Fortnite continues to evolve, we are forced to make support changes to evolve the technology and expand the game to meet our vision for the future of Fortnite,' Epic said at the time. that point. "In older operating systems, the growing security threat and lack of modern features we rely on led us to spend more development time on alternatives, for investing that time in the game itself."

Fortnite will stop supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8 Picture 2

It's a very good reason because Windows 7 is now 13 years old, it will be a bit long when these things happen and Microsoft officially ended support for Windows 7, 8 and 8.1 in January of this year. now.

It's true that it sucks to let people who love old operating systems go, but at some point, if you want to continue to develop your technology, it doesn't make sense to drag old technology with you. , which is why, for example, I no longer have a floppy drive in my PC.

Fortnite will stop supporting Windows 7 and Windows 8 Picture 3

The good news is that removing support for older versions of Windows shouldn't cause much trouble for Epic. The Steam Hardware and Software Survey currently indicates that Windows 7 (32 and 64-bit) and Windows 8.1 users combined make up less than 2% of its total users.

It's not an accurate measure of the PC gaming audience, Fortnite isn't on Steam, but Steam represents a large enough player base that this number can at least be taken as an indication of the overall trend. , which means there really aren't many people using older versions of Windows to play Fortnite.

If you're still using Windows 7 or 8 at this point, it's really time to upgrade. And if for some reason you can't, Epic recommends GeForce Now, Nvidia's streaming service that lets you play games including Fortnite on pretty much any platform you can, as long as you have enough tape. internet communication.

Micah Soto

Update 13 March 2023