Overview

Producing seasons of Fortnite takes hundreds of insanely talented people, collaborating together, under what I can only describe as a pressure cooker. This case study covers what we as an entire organization were able to achieve, UX/UI's piece of the puzzle, and the things I did to contribute towards our collective success.

‍This case study only utilizes metrics that are publicly available, not anything sensitive or confidential.

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The Challenge

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Between mid-2020 and late 2023, Fortnite faced a number of headwinds. Here are just a few:

• Apple removed us from iOS in August 2020, cutting off $1B in annual revenue
• An FPS competitor was eating our lunch with teens (a key demographic) 67% to our 37%
• The Battle Royale genre was contracting from 19% to 12% of total gaming hours played

In addition, we knew the company vision was to build the Metaverse, but we had little definition of what that meant.

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What Success Looked Like

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By late 2023, we’d (the entire Fortnite org) transformed Fortnite from a single game into a gaming platform. We achieved building the foundation of what Tim Sweeney called the “Metaverse”.

• 650 million registered players (up from 150M in 2022)
• 126 million monthly active users (up from 80M in 2020)
• 3 new games launched simultaneously in December 2023, alongside the most successful chapter of Fortnite ever
• 44.7M concurrent players during the Big Bang event (Fortnite’s largest ever)

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My Role

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I led the UX/UI organization through a transformation between 2020 and the end of 2023 by:

• Turning a small, overworked team of 7 into a fully capable, multi-discipline department of 90 full time team members and 40-50 contractors
• Overseeing all UX/UI work across (at peak, 12 teams) the front end (lobby to store), discovery & personalization, creator tools/UEFN, Fortnite Seasonal and new games development
• Reviewing most work and providing directional feedback as needed
• Hiring and empowering smart leaders, who got deep into the pixels and needed little oversight
• Collaborating with game design during strategic planning sessions to contribute ideas and direction
• Ensuring all the teams were functioning properly, handling performance issues
• Communicating business impact and results of our UX/UI work out to the entire company on a monthly basis
• Creating a new sub-discipline (Tech UI Design) at Epic to unlock our ability to create scalable solutions
• Directing a massive game wide UI tech debt clean up operation
• Product owning the creation of new UI technology in engine
• Product owning and directing the redesign of Fortnite’s entire UI (Rift UI)
• Partnering deeply with multiple departments across Fortnite to coordinate everything
• Making and pitching strategic bets to leadership

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Three Strategic Bets That Changed Everything

We worked on hundreds of features collaboratively with other departments. I want to highlight a couple things we contributed to that were stand out successes for the business.

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No Build Mode: Expanding the Addressable Market

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The Problem Space:

Building was Fortnite's signature mechanic. It was also a big barrier to growth. New players needed 8-10+ hours weekly just to compete with veteran players, and 77% of players who'd made purchases felt locked out by that skill ceiling.

What we did:

In March 2022, we supported the launch of Zero Build mode by designing all of the new UI for systems like over-shield, tactical sprint, and enhanced mobility. UX/UI handled all of the interactive tutorials, HUD elements, and lobby adjustments for these changes. Additionally we rebuilt the mode switcher in the lobby, and the new discovery experience to pave the way for multiple new modes to exist.

Why it mattered:

• 98% increase in Twitch viewership within weeks
• Major creators like Ninja returned: “Most fun I’ve had on Fortnite in YEARS”
• Within months, Zero Build became the most popular mode
• We effectively doubled our addressable market without alienating hardcore builder players

The insight:

A lot of our newer players shared feedback that the building system was a major barrier to entry. It was hard for them to compete with veteran players who could build a fort in an instant. Sometimes the most strategic move is removing friction, instead of focusing on adding new features.

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Battle Pass Redesigns: Optimizing Monetization

We rebuilt the Battle Pass UI twice across the 15 seasons between 2020 and 2023, not because the old one was broken, but because we were solving different problems at different stages:

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Chapter 2, Season 7 (Invasion):

The grid system with star currency gave players perceived choices. It got mixed reception (75% of players preferred the linear design), but it increased perceived value enough to support raising the price of the Battlepass from $7.99 to $9.50.

Chapter 4 Season 1 (Reality)

We took player feedback to heart and moved back to a linear design with a cleaner UI. Player’s called it “Peak Fortnite”. More importantly, we were able not only please players, but reduce asset production costs by up to 30% by utilizing background static assets vs. individual rendered 3D environments.

The pattern:

During revenue declining periods (2022-2023), these UI improvements maintained conversion rates by reducing friction and clarifying value to players.

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Platform Architecture: Building for the Metaverse

The long game: Every season from Chapter 2 onward, we were investing in our future by building towards something bigger... a team and UI system that could support multiple games and brand experiences simultaneously.

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By Chapter 5 (Big Bang), that investment paid off.

We shipped:

• 3 brand new games (LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, Festival)
• Completely redesigned information architecture, lobby, store, locker, navigation, and discover experiences
• New “Rift UI” design system built in Unreal Engine / UMG
• Cross game coherence across all experiences

And we did this with a 16% reduction in our workforce 3 months before launch.

The scalable architecture we built in the background made the impossible, possible.

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What didn’t Work (and what we learned)

Not all of our bets paid off however. Some things just didn't meet the mark for players. Here are two.

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Crafting System (Season 6)

The Bet:

Survival mechanics were trending at the time. We thought borrowing from that would further differentiate us from other pure shooters.

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What Happened:

A lot of players didn't like it. We got a lot of feedback that crafting felt more like a chore than an actual feature. We maintained 83.3M MAU and 389M watched hours, but player sentiment told us we'd miscalculated.

‍The Lesson:

Just because something works in another game doesn't mean it fits your core loop. We significantly reduced crafting in future seasons and focused on systems that enhanced combat, not replaced it.

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Battle Stars (Chapter 2, Season 7)

The Bet:

Give players choice in what they unlock to increase perceived value.

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What Happened:

Mixed results. TheGamer called it "more an illusion of choice than genuine improvement." Reddit polling showed 75% preferred the old system.

The Lesson:

It still worked commercially (supported a price increase, maintained completion rates), but we confirmed that perceived value doesn’t equal player satisfaction. We reverted to a linear progression with improvements in a later season.

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Wrapping Up

I was honored to work with so many talented people on the hundreds of features and changes we shipped together over the years I was there. We were able to build something special for tens of millions of players who enjoyed the game for hours every day. The investment and time players made with Fortnite elicited strong, passionate opinions we could always count on to steer us in the right direction.

By late 2023, Fortnite had evolved from “Battle Royale game trying to compete with Call of Duty” to “gaming platform that no single FPS competitor could match.” Fortnite elevated itself from game to platform.

UX/UI transformed during the process from fledgling team to mature department, while shipping hundreds of features and improvements to millions of players around the world.

I left Epic and Fortnite with:

• A world class design department capable of tackling multiple projects simultaneously
  
• A solid technical UI infrastructure that will scale the platform over the next decade plus
• A new, multi-brand UI identity and system that scales across any experience on the platform

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