Former Epic Games director admits he "tried to cancel Fortnite"

Former Epic Games director Rod Fergusson has revealed that he tried to cancel the original version of Fortnite.

Speaking to Game Informer, Fergusson, who now works at Gears 5 developer The Coalition, spoke about his thoughts on the game’s early development.

“[Fortnite] would not have passed [my quality] bar,” Fergusson revealed. “Before I left, I tried to cancel Fortnite. When it was Save the World… that was a project that had some challenges.”

Save the World, the original co-op survival aspect of the game was originally announced back in 2011 following an internal game jam at Epic Games. The game would be reported on numerous times over the next six years but it wouldn’t see release until 2017, still in early access.

“As the director of production at that time, that game would not have passed my quality for something we should continue to keep going,” Fergusson continued. “So when people look at me and say, “Don’t you feel bad [that you left]?” I say no, you should feel really good, because that game you love – that worldwide sensation – would not exist had I stayed at Epic.”

Since it’s release, Fortnite has been released on pretty much every platform you can think of. As a cross-play success, now nine seasons deep, developer Epic Games are lucky for their success, but in an alternate universe, Rod might have given it the axe.