On October 13 2019, Epic Games pulled the plug on Fortnite and the largest community of gamers on the planet saw their favourite world devoured by a black hole. Since then, everything has returned to normal, yet the mood in the community is still in a bad way. Resentment is once again building and this time, it's towards the silence from Epic Games.
Until now, Fortnite was in part defined by constant updates, which introduced an uninterrupted stream of new features to game. Fortnite is not only the most popular Battle Royale on the market, but is also unique in that it constantly offered players new gameplay experiences that changed from week to week.
It also featured a development team that took great care to interact with its community. By being in constant conversation with players, Epic were able to receive feedback and fix any pressing bugs affecting the game.
All these elements led players to view Fortnite as a model of perfection: constant updates, varied content, and a developer who cared. At least, that was the case for the first set of seasons. Over these last few months, repeated controversies (B.R.U.T.E., Infinity Blade, Turbo Build) have eroded the confidence that placed Epic ahead of its contemporaries.
Yet no one could foresee that these marginal cracks in the relationship would shift into...no relationship at all. Since the arrival of Chapter 2, new features have been rare and there has been no communication from the Epic Games. It's almost as if part of the game never made it out of that black hole.
A Deafening Silence, An Empty Schedule
Chapter 2 introduced a wealth of changes, yet since its arrival just over a month ago, there has only been a single new feature added to the game: the Harpoon in patch 11.10
Back in Chapter 1, players could expect a new weapon, item, or location on the map every fortnight without fail. It has been five whole weeks since the Harpoon was released. This would not be news for other games, but in Fortnite, such sparsity is without precedent.
And it's the same situation for Fornite's Limited Time Modes: from Season 4 onwards, several new modes appeared each month. Now, players have no choice but to experience the same stagnant rotation. However, it should be said that the Storm King event during Halloween must have taken a lot of time and work, though we were unfortunately able to defeat it in almost no time at all.
Fortnite's current iteration has players feeling let down and impatient for the next season. The start of a new season is always a grand spectacle for the game, as it introduces major shake-ups to the map, new game mechanics, and the next edition of the hotly awaited Battle Pass.
If Epic fail to implement any significant changes in the coming season, community backlash would be the least of their worries, as they would be subject to a high-scale media storm proclaiming their downfall.
The devs, who seem averse to releasing anything at the moment, have just announced an extension of the current season until February, making it last for nearly four months instead of the usual two and a half.
This decision is just another source of frustration for Fortnite's community.
This summary would be lacking if we did not mention the esports side of things, which is just as bad as the rest.
This time last year, Epic had already announced the World Cup, making players the world over giddy with impatience. They had also promised an exorbitant amount of money to the Winter Royale, leading everyone to wonder what Epic were cooking up for next year.
Yet now, with the FNCS heading towards its Grand Finals at the start of December, Epic has yet to announce anything. While the prize pools may continue to make other games jealous, the investment, just like the organisational side of things, continues to lack direction.
And in all of this, not a single word from the developers. Long gone are the days of patch notes and video updates. There may be quite a few balance changes, but players must discover them themselves, gathering their collective experiences on forums and checking to see what's each patch has changed.
The community viewed its close relationship with Epic as incredibly important and its disappearance, as well as the general lack of content, continues to frustrate players.
An Exhausted Epic Games?
Do the developers simply need a break? Epic already had a brief recess in August to recover from the terrible crunch time generated by Fortnite's success. Numerous ex-employees have spoken out against the constant pressure exuded by company's hierarchy, as well as the consequent non-renewal of contracts for those who didn't jump for joy at the idea of overtime.
At the time, the studio did not make any apologies. They did, however, explain that their working conditions were forced on them by the game's explosion in popularity and the lack of skilled developers available to them.
These statements have otherwise been offset by the return of other employees, who claim that "[at Epic] we work hard but we're paid handsomely" and that it's possible "to earn in several months what a developer earns in a year". We should also recall that we've already seen the dev team take short breaks, most recently at Christmas.
Though on the surface, it appears the crisis had subsided, teams seemingly operated at their true capacity behind the scenes. The work that had to be done on Chapter 2 would prove to be the straw that broke the camel's back.
Admittedly, the start of a new Chapter in the game's history is hardly the best time to slow the pace down, yet there may have just been no other option. It seems that Epic might have had to choose been stopping to recover or dropping like flies.
It should also be noted that though the "new features" team can finally enjoy a long break, the "skins" team has not experienced the same luxury. Skins continue to be released at the same frenetic pace. They are the lifeblood of the V-bucks Store, after all.
There won't be any holidays this year for those manning the most lucrative online store in the world.
A New Age of Caution?
It possible that it isn't fatigue that is behind the the slower update schedule, but rather caution. After all, when you keep up such a frantic pace, you quickly burn through your ideas. Adding fun and original content to the game that isn't completely broken quickly moves from difficult to impossible.
This is how we end up with a magic sword, an unstoppable robot, and the numerous other failures implemented by Epic over the last few months, as the remaining original ideas are too extravagant to realistically balance.
Lessening the pace and making players get used to this slower schedule not only allows the few remaining good ideas last for longer, but also lets the game be less reliant on gimmicky content. It's also a way to please the influential cast of professional players, who have suffered through a constantly unstable meta with gritted teeth.
Just a New Way of Communicating?
It's also possible that this isn't a break or a way of stockpiling ideas, but rather a new way of talking to the community. After all, when Epic wordlessly pulled the plug on the game during the "Blackout" event, the game experienced an unprecedented period of silence.
Every developer wants to see their game generate as big a buzz as possible. If instead of having a million people reading the official patch notes, Epic would rather have millions of forum posts trying to figure out the new gun stats or placement of new buildings, that's fine too.
It's worth having several thousand players complain if there are several million others engaging with the new model. And this is exactly what happened with the Harpoon: less than 20 seconds after the patch dropped, the first players to land on the map discovered a new item that they had never seen before. Several moments later, forums dedicated to Fortnite could talk of nothing else.
However, this new update philosophy can't survive on a single item every five weeks. If the devs are aiming to increase engagement with the game by keeping their lips sealed, it's counterproductive to then release content at such a slow pace.
Once again, this problem goes back to the very crux of the argument. The lack of communication from Epic is the most striking issue, but it's the lack of new content that is the real problem. All players can do is wait patiently and hope that the developers they are so reliant on can finally put their feet up.
