A new Fortnite "Performance Mode" is coming to PC with an Alpha test, giving players with older PCs a chance to get some better FPS with one of the world's most popular Battle Royale games.
Fortnite is far from a heavy hitter in the PC graphics department, but that doesn't really matter for older computers. We've all probably been there at one point or another — you can't quite afford to upgrade your graphics card or get a new motherboard and CPU, so you're just stuck dealing with less-than-optimal performance. Epic Games has heard the pleas of low-spec gamers and will soon be debuting this new Performance Mode to help out people in exactly that situation.
What is Fortnite Performance Mode?
Fortnite Performance Mode, simply put, will make the game take up less storage space and provide players an overall smoother experience. Naturally, this new graphics option will come with some sacrifices to get that performance boost on older PCs.
"Performance mode is made possible by lowering in-game visual quality to increase framerate and is a great way for users to hop in and experience the game as long as they meet the Fortnite system requirements," read the news post on the game's official website. "Along with the option to uninstall high resolution textures, players can now get in quicker than ever before and still enjoy the game as intended."
Epic Games' internal testing has shown gains of 27–37 FPS on comparable low-spec hardware in 720p resolution. These are certainly substantial improvements, although Epic cautions players that a lot of this is dependent on hardware — a PC with an SSD, for example, will have much better performance than a PC that is still using a mechanical HD to load the game.
Fortnite Performance Mode will start Alpha testing on December 15, 2020; players can activate this optional Rendering Mode in Video Settings. Do keep in mind that this in Alpha, though — it may take some time for Epic Games to deploy improvements that improve the game for a wide range of low-end PCs.
What do you think of Fortnite Performance Mode? Do you think more game developers should take the time to get their games working on low-end PCs? Let us know in the comments below!
