Fortnite had a very good December according to SuperData Research. The battle royale title saw its highest digital earnings on PC and consoles since August 2020. Player numbers were also higher than any other point since August 2019 thanks to numerous collaborations.

The Marvel Comics-themed limited-time event in December, which closed out the Nexus War season, saw 15.3 million concurrent players, thus setting a new record. Next season saw a number of high-profile cosmetics from the likes of Halo, God of War, The Walking Dead and so on. Terminator and Predator also recently joined the fun, which is a weird thing to say considering the franchises in question.

Recently, Epic Games announced its Fortnite Champion Series 2021 schedule with a prize pool of $20 million. Qualifiers for the first season begin on February 4th to 7th and the standard has changed to accommodate trios instead of duos or full squads. Other competitions will be held in the middle and end of this year so expect more news from the shooter in the coming months.

Epic Games’ Fortnite: Chapter 2 has a new hunter joining the fray – Master Chief from Halo. He’ll be available later today but that’s not the only Halo content coming to the battle royale title. Blood Gulch, a setting for the popular Red vs. Blue web-series, will be added to Creative Mode today and allow players to modify the map in their own ways.

The prospect of playing Capture the Flag in Fortnite is pretty cool but that’s not all. The Walking Dead’s Daryl and Michonne will also be coming to the game on December 16th. Why? Well, why not? Everything is in Fortnite after all, for better or worse.

Fortnite: Chapter 2 is currently in Season 5 following the monumental battle against Galactus in the previous season. Thus far, characters like The Mandalorian, Kratos from God of War and many more have joined the bounty hunter-themed season. Who could possibly be coming next? The season’s still young so stay tuned for more details in the coming months.

Fortnite Chapter 2 – Season 5 is currently live with new locations and characters along with a new Battle Pass. However, Season 4: Nexus War ended with a bang with players teaming up to fight against Marvel’s Galactus on a massive scale. According to the game’s official Twitter, 15.3 million concurrent players took the fight to the cosmic entity.

In terms of viewership, over 3.4 million watched the event on YouTube and Twitch. The actual mechanics saw players involved in a shoot ’em up mini-game, launching several Battle Buses armed with explosives into Galactus before he could absorb the Zero Point. This in turn led to him being pushed back, some how. Just roll with it.

The focus for Season 5 is the Zero Point being exposed and Agent Jonesy ensuring that everything is in order. He does this by recruiting hunters from numerous realities, including The Mandalorian. Players will get into the bounty hunting spirit by taking on requests from different characters and either recruiting them for help or fighting them for rewards. What other weapons and characters will join the fight? We’ll find out in the weeks.

We defeated him! A record 15.3 million concurrent players joined forces in our biggest event ever to fight back Galactus in today's in-game event, while more than 3.4 million cheered and watched on @YouTubeGaming and @Twitch! pic.twitter.com/IAcNpcPKEw

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) December 2, 2020

The threat of Galactus is gone(for now) but Fortnite continues to roll on. Following maintenance, servers are back up and Fortnite Chapter 2 – Season 5 is now live. The theme for this season is “Zero Point” and sees Agent Jones recruiting hunters from across all realities to ensure no one escapes the Loop. Check out the story trailer below.

Along with new locations including the Zero Point, an arena and a jungle, there’s a new bounty mechanic in play. Essentially, players can work with the various characters on the island to take on bounties, and fulfill requests. Said characters can be your allies or even challenged to a duel. You’ll need to spend Bars to hire them though and these can only be earned from completing quests, eliminating other players or finding stashes.

These Bars can also be spent on new weapons like the Night Hawk, the Amban Sniper Rifle and Dragon’s Breath Shotgun with more coming through the season. There’s also a new Battle Pass (which is part of the new Fortnite Crew service) to purchase with several new cosmetics to earn. Check out the trailer for that below.

It’s finally happened – Fortnite is getting a monthly subscription service called Fortnite Crew. Launching on December 2nd with Chapter 2 – Season 5, Fortnite Crew costs $11.99 per month and includes the Battle Pass along with other goodies. Check out the trailer below.

Along with the Battle Pass, subscribers will also receive 1,000 V-Bucks in addition. There’s also a Fortnite Crew Pack released a monthly basis which includes a new outfit and a matching accessory (be it a Glider, Pickaxe or Emote). The Crew Pack for December is Galaxia with a Cosmic Llamacorn Pickaxe and Fractured World Back Bling.

One particularly nice touch is that the Battle Pass and Crew Pack will remain with players even if their subscription ends. Those who have a current season’s Battle Pass and then subscribe to Fortnite Crew will receive 950 V-Bucks back. As it stands, this seems like a natural step for the title and a fairly solid deal for regular players. Stay tuned for more details en route to its release.

Epic Games’ Fortnite comes to Xbox Series X/S and PS5 next week, sporting enhancements to take advantage of both consoles. It will launch on November 10th for Microsoft’s consoles and November 12th for PS5. Official details on next-gen improvements have been revealed and there’s quite a bit to take in.

The Xbox Series X and PS5 will both run the game at 4K/60 FPS and offers a more dynamic world with improved effects for storms, clouds, liquids and so on. They also benefit from improved texture loading and getting matches faster. Split-screen players will also be happy to note that it runs at 60 FPS on PS5 and Xbox Series X/S.

PS5 players can expect support for the DualSense’s haptic feedback and adaptive triggers along with Activity integration. If you want to jump straight into Solos, Duos or Squads from the Home screen, then go for it. It’s worth noting that the game runs at 1080p/60 FPS on the Xbox Series S.

Of course, this is only the beginning for the free-to-play battle royale with a migration to Unreal Engine 5 planned for mid-2021. Stay tuned for more details in the meantime.

Fortnite’s latest season is here, this time focusing entirely on Marvel Comics heroes as they team up to take on Galactus. Why does Thor care about the world of Fortnite enough to summon the likes of Wolverine, Doctor Doom, Storm and She-Hulk? Why is Galactus threatening the island in the first place? The Nexus War trailer below answers none of these questions but looks nice anyway so check it out.

The key hook of this event is being able to use superpowers like Doctor Doom’s gauntlets, the Silver Surfer’s board and so on with more being added throughout the season. Several famous Marvel Comics locations have also been added to the island including Doom’s Domain and the Sentinel Graveyard. A new weapon is also in play with the Stark Industries Energy Rifle that varies in function depending on one’s aim.

You also have a SHIELD helicarrier on the map along with Stark Supply Drones that will provide Hero Abilities and weapons. There’s a new battle pass, of course, and as you unlock new heroes, you can complete various quests to “awaken” them. This translates to having an emote which “reveals the Hero or Villain within.” So basically just an emote.

Galactus hasn’t invaded the island yet so stay tuned for more details in the coming months as the season progresses.

NieR Automata – The [E]nd of YoRHa

By the time you get to Ending E, you’ve already seen plenty of messed up stuff, from the revelation of mankind’s fate to suicidal robots and the death of beloved characters. What more could the game throw at you? How about a chance to recover what was lost? How about…a fight against the credits, the game’s creators themselves? But wait, what if other players could join in and help? You could also sacrifice your own data to potentially help them. All of this just to bring back 2B, 9S and A2 to probably suffer the cycle again in the hope of things changing.

If you’ve played Apex Legends, then Fortnite: Chapter 2’s new Vaults in Season 2 will be familiar. You need a special keycard to access each one and can acquire some pretty cool loot. However, you’ll have to contend with Agent minibosses to acquire the corresponding keycard.

Let’s go over the Agency HQ Vault first. Go to the center of the map and you’ll see the Agency. The biggest building will have Midas, who can appear anywhere within so be careful. Keep in mind that there are turrets and minions that also have to be dealt with so take them out first.

Defeating Midas will yield a keycard. Now go to the lobby, take the left hallway and head down the Eastern staircase. You’ll encounter two turrets guarding the Vault so either use a disguise, build some walls to block them off or destroy them. Enter the Vault to find one supply crate, four Slurp Cans, four ammo boxes, two supply caches and two chests.

Next up is The Rig, located in South-West. You’ll need to take out TNTina first, which shouldn’t be too difficult. Get the keycard, go towards the North to Vault and open it up. You’ll find three ammo boxes, three chests, one supply crate and one supply cache.

The Yacht is pretty easy to find in the North-East part of the map. Find Meowscles, defeat him and his minions, and you’ll receive the keycard. Head to the lower deck, avoid/destroy the turret guarding the Vault and open it up. Two supply caches and one supply crate can be found here.

The Grotto is also easy to locate on the map. You’ll need to take down various minions first and then head to the shore. Use a phone booth for a disguise, head to the North and then fight Brutus for the keycard. There are two turrets guarding the Vault so use a disguise again to get past them. Four supply caches, four ammo boxes and one supply crate can be found here.

The Shark Vault is located in the North-West. Look for a shark-like rock formation and find Skye. Defeat her and pick up the keycard. You’ll have to get past a turret in the basement to access the Vault but a disguise will help here as well. You’ll find four supply caches and one supply crate in the Vault.

It’s worth noting that each of the different Agents has a Mythic Weapon that drops when they’re defeated so Vault hunting might be worthwhile for that alone. If you’re having trouble locating the Vaults, check out the handy video guide below from GamesRadar.

Fortnite: Chapter 2 – Season 2 is currently underway but it’s still worth looking at the Metal Mouth and Zadie skins. These skins, which look like the Hunters from The Division, can be purchased from the cash shop but completing their challenges will unlock alternate styles. How do you go about unlocking them? The quickest way is to grab a friend and head into Creative Mode.

For Zadie’s skin, you need to play three games, buy ten items from Vending Machines during a match and dish out 250 Pistol damage within a match, all in Creative mode. For the first challenge, complete three Search and Destroy matches in Creative. You can then use the Creative tools to spawn in Vending Machines and buy items from those. Finally, shoot a friend with a Pistol for a total of 250 damage to unlock Zadie’s alternate styles.

Metal Mouth’s skin also requires playing three games in Creative. However, you need to arm or defuse ten Timed Devices in a match and dish out 250 damage with Assault Rifles in a match. Once again, go with Search and Destroy for completing the first challenge. For the second challenge, just drop in some bombs and arm them. Finally, shoot your friend with an Assault Rifle for a total of 250 damage and that should unlock Metal Mouth’s alternate styles.