Epic Games has announced that its original Save the World mode will become free-to-play on April 16, 2026, and will also launch on Nintendo Switch 2 on the same date.
The move marks the end of a nearly nine-year period where the mode remained paywalled behind rotating add-on packs. This significant shift opens the game’s original survival experience to a wider audience and introduces the mode to a new console platform, thereby expanding its reach.
Epic Games stated that the update will allow all players to access Save the World without purchasing access, making it more inclusive for gamers. To generate interest ahead of the release, the company has launched a community goal website, which offers free rewards for registration, encouraging players to sign up and engage with the upcoming content.
Save the World initially launched in summer 2017 as a paid player-versus-environment survival mode. It served as the precursor to Fortnite’s highly popular battle royale mode but has received sporadic updates in recent years, somewhat slowing down its development pace.
The announcement follows recent news regarding changes to the pricing and availability of the game’s V-Bucks currency. Epic Games, the billion-dollar publisher behind Fortnite, justified the pricing changes by stating they were necessary to “pay the bills,” indicating the financial considerations behind such decisions.
