Is Fortnite actually based on a John Macdonald Island? FACT CHECK

The recent rumor to hit the internet is that Fortnite was based on a story stating that 99 men were put on a billionaire's island called "John Macdonald Island" back in the 1950s and forced to fight to the death for money.

At first glance, this story could check out. But is it true? Is this how the idea of Fortnite came to be? Let's do some fact-checking.

The John Macdonald Island story claims that in 1951 a billionaire had 99 people fight to the death on an island, with the last person standing winning a large sum of money. Sounds pretty similar to Fortnite, right?

So, did this really happen? And is it what inspired Fortnite? The answer: no.

First off, John Macdonald Island is not even a real island, just a fictional spot made up by some people on the internet. Going off of public knowledge, there has never actually been an island in history where someone hosted such a dangerous game (It could make for a great TV show, though).

Hopefully, too, something like this never actually happens either.

Related: How to get a double elimination in Fortnite

Fortnite is a Battle Royale and is not the first of its kind either. Other games, such as PUBG and H1Z1 had dropped before Fortnite. The game just made sure to be different by adding building. All these games, though, were based on fictional dystopian worlds, such as Hunger Games and Battle Royale.

In Hunger Games, people are put into a game against other factions where they have to fight to the death, with the last one standing winning.

So yes, in a way, Fortnite did get its idea off of fiction, just like the John Macdonald Island story. But no, there has never been an event that actually resembles Battle Royales in real life. Hopefully, there never will be.

Stay tuned to esports.gg for more Fortnite and esports news.