Chapter 2: Coming Back
It was a beautiful, cool September day in 2017 when Conner Valk returned home from school, buzzing with excitement about a new free-to-play game on Xbox called Fortnite. Without hesitation, young Conner jumped onto the couch to download it. To this day, Valk still grinds Fortnite, but he can’t help but notice how the lobbies that once brimmed with players now barely reach 100.
“I started playing Fortnite in 2017 when I was in fourth grade,” Conner recalls. “It was the talk of the school. Everyone was discussing various locations in the game—Pleasant Park, Frosty Flights, Frenzy Fields, Tomato Town, and more. With all the hype, I knew I had to give it a try.”
After downloading Fortnite, Valk played avidly for nearly five years. However, by 2021, he felt the game had deteriorated. Disappointed with the new gameplay, he decided to hang up his headset and take a break until November 2023, when Fortnite re-released the OG season. This felt like an opportunity to relive the cherished memories he had created with friends back in 2017.
“After the OG season ended, Fortnite held up for a bit with the seasonal Christmas update, but soon the game I knew became a distant memory,” he reflected.
With the success of Season 2, Epic Games recently announced the return of the OG season on November 2. “I’m ecstatic,!” Valk saidexclaimed. “All those days I rushed home from school in 2017 to play with friends are finally coming back. This new season is going to be epic.! The excitement of the OG season returning feels just like the thrill I had as an eight-year-old waiting for Santa on a cold, snowy Christmas night.”
The upcoming season promises to reintroduce many old items, creating a wave of nostalgia for players. This nostalgic atmosphere benefits both the community and Epic Games. According to the company, player counts peaked in early December 2023, just before the OG season ended, with an average of 11,616,374 players per day—compared to fewer than a million on average during other months.
Epic Games also announced the return of mythic bosses, stationed in their hideouts across the map. Players can choose which boss to land on, adding an element of suspense to their strategy. There are six different bosses, each with unique hideouts, and players won’t know their locations until they land. Defeating a boss requires overcoming significant challenges, as each has 100 shields and 400 health—three times that of a normal player. Successfully defeating a boss rewards players with a mythic weapon and a keycard. Notably, Skye drops a mythic Scar assault rifle and a mythic grappler with unlimited grapples, making these weapons highly coveted.
What draws people to play Fortnite? Jr. Zachary Jongkryg, who joined the game in the summer of 2023, saidshared his experience: “I started playing Fortnite late because it was the game my friends wanted to play. However, after a couple of weeks, my friends agreed that it wasn’t that fun.” He saidadded, “In November 2023, the OG season came back, and I finally realized how fun the game could be. Once they got rid of the OG season, it just didn’t feel the same anymore.”
Fortnite and its fans both saw a decline in players and the quality of the game. “I’m so hyped for the new season,” Jongkryg and Valk said in unison.
