Fortnites lack of official API frustrating

Like the great ESports games that came before it, CSGO and Dota have a decent API system provided by their creator Valve. It makes it easy for developers to access and display data and stats around the game.

In FPS competitive games (first person shooter) it is highly crucial to allow freely tracking of players performance (kills, wins, deaths, accuracy etc.) If any thing it allows for the game to grow from a technical and developers side. Any growth can be good for the game both through its player base and its spectator base.

Yet Epic games the maker of Fortnite battle royal the massive sensation for late 2017 and all of 2018 do not have an offical API. On one side you can argue that without an official API the game is still playable and enjoyable. But for Fortnite to move into the ESports scene it’s going to need an official API.

Third party API’s exist for Fortnite, through packet sniffing and perhaps some behind the scenes help from Epic games to tunnel data. With these third-party API suppliers you can get basic data like kills, wins, topX finishes, time played, games played and KD. There is no individual weapon data or detailed spreads on your kills like the CSGO API has.

There has now been 6 month of domination on the gaming scene by Fortnite yet no API, It would have come by now if Epic games where serious about pushing Fortnite onto the ESports scene. Think about the mobile apps and web apps all tracking and displaying player stats, data and progression beautifully. All about making the game well-rounded, without an official API Fortnite doesn’t feel complete.

With the ease that these third-party services have access to some form of Fortnite API its hard to believe that making an official API would be a lot of work. It seems the API ground work is there but Epic games wants nothing to do with it. Watch this space because if Fortnite tries to go the ESports route with no official API it will tank.