How Epic’s Fortnite rose from the ashes of Paragon’s failure

Paragon deserved better. Epic Games' recently shuttered title looked like a third-person shooter, but it was all MOBA under the hood. That might not seem like an argument in its favor, as conventional wisdom says the MOBA genre is oversaturated and already behind the multiplayer curve. This gorgeous contender was a bit different, however. It learned from the mistakes of similar abandoned projects and constantly shot for something just a little bit different from mainstays like League of Legends and Dota 2. That drive to find its own niche should have been Paragon's greatest strength, but it might have ended up as the game's greatest weakness.

Now Epic has moved onto bigger, more profitable, and arguably better things with Fortnite: Battle Royale, the biggest thing in the gaming world since the last biggest thing in the gaming world. The 100-player slugfest is certainly more popular than Paragon's relatively staid five-on-five battles-especially based on rumors that few people were still playing by the end.

The more I play Fortnite, though, the more I see a lot of Paragon's DNA.

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