Fortnite developers explain bizarre new Avengers: Infinity War update

'This is a collaborative experiment between friends'

Fortnite has received a shock new update to celebrate the release of Avengers: Infinity War – and it seems almost as surprising to developers.

The game has received a special that sees Thanos, the villain from the film, appear in the game. He appears in a special mode known as Infinity Gauntlet, which appears on the main map but off to the side so that it can be easily ignored.

Unlike other recent Fortnite developments, the addition of the Avengers mode was not teased much in advance and came with no marketing campaign. Instead, developers simply announced that it was coming and then it did.

It works like a normal version of the solo game mode, where players drop into the map and try to survive until the end. But at some point an asteroid will crash down and bring with it the Infinity Gauntlet, and the player who gets it will transform into Thanos.

As Thanos they will get special powers and attacks, as well as immunity all damage. He was initially even more powerful and developers Epic Games took away some of that power for fear that he was too strong.

Developers said the game mode had come together almost as a happy accident.

"This collaboration started as a simple phone conversation between Epic and Marvel over a mutual appreciation for Fortnite and Avengers," developers wrote on the blog announcing the change. "We worked closely over the following weeks to bring these two worlds together and landed on the Limited Time Mashup, Infinity Gauntlet. When we saw the movie last weekend, which was incredible, we were even more excited.

"This is a collaborative experiment between friends from start to finish. Jump in tomorrow, play and experience Fortnite x Avengers. It’s unlike anything we’ve done before and we want to know what you think!"