Fortnite Kicks Off Season 4 With A Blast

(CBS News/CBSLA) — The massively popular, free-to-play online game Fortnite kicked off its fourth "season" today with a literal blast.

Players had speculated for days over the appearance of a comet in the sky, which crashed to the ground Tuesday, flattening the game's "Dusty Depot" into a "Dusty Divot."

The shooting game drops players on an island, where they fight to be the last person standing. The game is free, but players can pay for accessories to make their battles more colorful, including costumes and even dance moves for their characters.

In-game purchases reportedly brought in $233 million in March alone for developer Epic Games. The game is also paying off for professional video-game streamers, like Tyler Blevins (aka "Ninja") who draws tens of thousands of viewers a day.

Last month, Blevins teamed up with rappers Drake and Travis Scott, and NFL wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster, breaking Twitch streaming records by drawing more than 600,000 viewers.

Fortnite is available for free download on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC and Mac.

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