Some Fortnite players on the PC may have to upgrade their graphics cards with the upcoming launch of Season 10, as developer Epic Games said that it is changing the system requirements for the massively popular multiplayer Battle Royale shooter.
In a post on its official website, Epic Games said that starting with Fortnite Season 10, players on the PC will need graphics cards that are capable of running DirectX 11. The game will no longer support DirectX 10.
Fortnite has officially always needed DirectX-11 capable graphics cards, according to the game’s minimum system requirements. However, unofficially, the game has supported DirectX 10 so that more players would be able jump into the action.
The support for DirectX 10 graphics cards really is coming to an end once Season 10 begins. “This allows us to focus our development and testing efforts to further optimize the Fortnite experience for all players,” Epic games wrote in the blog post.
With the development team no longer required to ensure compatibility with older technology, it may focus on taking better advantage of newer graphics cards and their capabilities, as they seek to make further improvements in Fortnite amid an increasingly competitive Battle Royale genre.
Fortnite players who are not sure if their PCs come with a graphics card that can support DirectX 11 should mostly not worry, as there is a good chance that the answer is yes. According to Polygon, any Nvidia graphics card released after the GEForce GTS 450 in 2010 should be able to run DirectX 11, while any AMD graphics card rolled out after the Radeon HD 5450 in 2009 should be fine.
This means that most Fortnite PC players will not be affected by the upgraded system requirements. However, for those who are on aging machines, it may be a good idea to not just buy a new graphics card, but to purchase a new laptop altogether. Digital Trends senior editor Matt Smith compiled a list of the best laptops for Fortnite, led by the Dell G7 15.
There is no specific date yet on when Fortnite Season 10 will start. However, with Season 9 ending on August 1 following the 14 Days of Summer event, it would be a good bet to expect the new season to launch on August 2.
