[Mdk25]

Both these things came later on (once Fortnite took off).

What Epic actually did do well, was take the most popular game in the world at the time - PUBG, copy it to the T on their own engine, and release it for free (instead of the $20 PUBG cost). That alone made it the most popular game in the world, and allowed them to make money off it, and create ports on all available platforms.

[cameronbrown]

Fortnite was a total failure for the a long time. The battle royale gamemode was just further experimentation.

[nobrains]

And that's the same story of Unreal Tournament and Quake III Arena.