Fortnite’s astronomical rise to the top of gaming world has been nothing short of astounding.

The release of a free-to-play battle royale mode in September of last year quickly transformed Fortnite from a well-meaning, but mildly successful player vs. the enemy horde title, to the wildly successful behemoth that has taken the world by storm.

Building upon the foundations laid down by Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds, (which enjoyed its own remarkable ascent to the top of the gaming mountain last year) Fortnite: Battle Royale’s unique mix of charm, frenetic struggle to survive, and unique resource gathering and construction elements has allowed it to decisively conquer every beachhead on which it has landed

Since the September release of Fortnite: Battle Royale, the game has relentlessly been setting records for the number of people actively playing and/or watching the game via live stream. A recent live stream of popular Twitch personality Ninja and rap superstar Drake shattered records, pulling in over 600,000 simultaneous viewers.

With the recent release of the game on the iOS platform, and an eventual release coming soon for Android devices, Epic’s addictive juggernaut showing no signs of slowing down in the near future; however, there is one final frontier left for Fortnite to colonize: The Nintendo Switch.

After confirming with our sources, NerdBacon can report that Fortnite will definitely be arriving on the Nintendo Switch this year, most likely around the same time that Nintendo launches their online service in September.

Fortnite will definitely be arriving on the Nintendo Switch this year

Rumors regarding a potential Switch version have brewed for several months, with Epic Games’ own Creative Director, Donald Mustard helping to stoke the fires of speculation when he recently tweeted that the company was interested in seeing Fortnite’s arrival on Nintendo’s equally popular hybrid console “at some point.”

Yes. Yes I am. Hopefully we do that at some point!

— Donald Mustard (@DonaldMustard) January 25, 2018

While an official announcement is forthcoming, the idea of being able to play the hottest game of the year there on Nintendo’s hybrid bundle of joy will certainly be cause for celebration among the Nintendo faithful. However, there is a downside for which fans will need to prepare: Fortnite on Nintendo Switch will not be free to play.

That’s right – if you want a Switch version of Fortnite, you’ll have to shell out some coin.

It’s not hard to imagine that this will cause a bit of a stir on the internet, as the wails of “but it’s free everywhere else” ring out from every online forum and message board conceivable.

Fortnite on Nintendo Switch will not be free to play

While the simultaneous shouts of joy and cries of anguish will be something to behold, the notion of having to pay for Fortnite should really come as no surprise to anyone who’s followed Nintendo’s history throughout the years.

Right now, the main issue for Nintendo is Fortnite’s reliance on in-game purchases. There is concern, given the way that Nintendo’s consoles normally skew towards a younger demographic, that younger players could rack up large bills through accidental purchases.

While Nintendo has certainly embraced DLC content in their own published titles beginning in the Wii-U era, the ability to conduct a DLC

purchase is well segregated and the chance for little Jimmy to make an unauthorized purchase is relatively small.

The availability of in-game purchases in Fortnite, and the reliance of those purchases as a revenue stream for Epic games, (and they’re doing very, very well with those sales) is unlike anything that has appeared on a Nintendo console thus far.

The other issue preventing Nintendo from embracing Fortnite’s free-to-play battle royale is simple: there’s too much money that would be left on the table.

After all, this is the same Nintendo that pioneered much of the licensing and royalty structure during the days of the NES that are still being employed to this day.

The prospect of an insanely popular title like Fortnite generating royalties for the privilege of being on the equally insanely popular Switch is too good of an opportunity to collect some extra dough for Nintendo to pass up.

While the idea of having to pay for the luxury of Fortnite on the Nintendo Switch is undoubtedly a bitter pill for some to swallow, there is another possibility being discussed that could cause a tidal wave if it turns out to be true: what if we just get Fortnite on the Switch – and not the battle royale mode?

The mere thought of not receiving Fortnite’s battle royale mode – the mode that took the game from being an afterthought to helping the aforementioned Twitch personality Ninja earn $500,000 per month by simply streaming the thing – seems inconceivable, yet that is one of the possibilities that is being discussed according to our source.

what if we just get Fortnite on the Switch – and not the battle royale mode?

As rising leaker LeakyPandy pointed out on Twitter recently, “it’s important to note that Fortnite and Fortnite: Battle Royale are two different products” and it’s that fact that has lead to two competing schools of thought regarding a Switch port of Fortnite:

School of thought #1 is that we get regular, vanilla Fortnite, and no battle royale.

School of thought #2 is that we get regular, vanilla Fortnite, and battle royale mode comes as a “free” download when you purchase the game.

We would like to point out that Fortnite and Fortnite Battle Royale are two different products.

When you read about any of them remind yourself of this.

— LeakyPandy (@LeakyPandy) March 7, 2018

Unfortunately, there’s no definitive word yet on which school of thought will prevail.

Logically, one would think that the possibility of just porting Fortnite without its world dominating (did I mention that this whole battle royale mode is a popular thing yet?) battle royale mode would be an easily avoidable mistake; however the history of electronic entertainment is littered with crazier mistakes.

So that leaves school of thought #2 – regular Fortnite is announced, and you get battle royale as part of the purchase, which from this reporter’s point of view, would make a heck of a lot more sense and give Nintendo a best of both worlds scenario.

They would get the most popular game of 2018 (thus far) on their console, along with all the revenue generated from their licensing royalties, and younger consumers would be protected through the paywall created by having to purchase the full version of Fortnite to get the battle royale download, while Epic would continue to rake in revenue from their in-game purchases.

One advantage that the Switch version of Fortnite’s potential battle royale (again, assuming that school of thought #1 doesn’t prevail) would have over at least the PlayStation 4 version is the ability to cross-play with PC and Xbox One versions of the game.

While Sony has been notoriously restrictive when it comes to their users interacting with player bases from other sources, Nintendo was surprisingly surprisingly open to it with the release of the Switch version of Rocket league. While cross-play with PlayStation 4 Fortnite players may be a pipe dream for the time being, at least the ability to interact with every other player, no matter what console they are on, will be available at launch.

I would also expect some cool Nintendo-themed extra’s to be included as an incentive to shelling out $30 to $60 for what is normally free. Admit it, any Nintendo/Fortnite fan would probably do a couple of back flips if they got the chance to run around in Fortnite sporting a Samus Aran skin.

But, this is all just conjecture at this point.

No official announcement has been made regarding Fortnite’s impending arrival on the Switch as of yet; however, with Nintendo preparing to launch a paid online service for the Switch in September, games will be needed in order to entice players to pony up the dough.

Coupled with the recently announced Smash Bros title, a port of Fortnite would create the irresistible one-two punch that Nintendo will need.

What are your thoughts?

Are you willing to pay in order to play Fortnite’s battle royale mode on the Nintendo Switch, or will you stick to the free-to-play versions on other devices?

Let us know in the comments section below.