Those who speculated about playing Fortnite: Battle Royale with a Bluetooth-connected controller on mobile or smartphone will now be disappointed. As Epic announced, there will be no controller support for the time being.
The news of bringing Fortnite: Battle Royale to mobile devices surprised many. Epic promises nothing less than the same game as on PC or consoles. There should be the same gameplay, the same regular updates, and no limitations in functionality.
But players are also skeptical: What will a touchscreen control look like for such a complex game? Item management, the quite complicated building mode, and resource management – all of this Epic will have to manage with the touchscreen.
As Epic recently announced, there will (for now) be no controller support on mobile devices.
No Controller Support on Smartphones and Tablets
As Eric Williamson, Senior Designer at Epic, stated on Reddit, controller support will be disabled at the launch of Fortnite: Battle Royale on mobile devices. Thus, you will be limited to your touchscreen in the beginning.
This decision carries a certain tension, after all, crossplay is supported optionally. But how can one compete with controller players on consoles using a touchscreen, not to mention PC players with mouse and keyboard?
As Williamson further elaborates, if controller support is activated later, matchmaking with other controller players (on consoles) could also be considered. Since there is no cross-play between Xbox One and Playstation 4, this matchmaking would have to be separated.
Robert thinks: How the control on mobile devices will look is still unclear. However, it is clear that Epic must deliver something truly convincing here for players to use touchscreen controls.
Because up until the announcement that controllers would not be supported on smartphones, I was sure that of course I would use a controller.
The touchscreen controls must be convincing, otherwise, the venture into the mobile world could turn out to be a big mistake.
What do you think about the decision to not allow controllers on smartphones and tablets for the time being?
