In news that seems too obvious even to type, Epic Games has now come out to acknowledge that the new island-based age rating system in Fortnite “didn’t hit the mark,” and they are currently working on a new strategy going forward.
The controversial age rating in question only rolled out a week ago, and it added an ESRB-style rating to each island in Fortnite.
According to Epic, the goal was to help parents and players make informed play decisions about the thousands of games and other experiences in Fortnite – which inherently doesn’t sound like a wrong move.
However, the implementation was terrible, and many of the cosmetics in the game that aren’t compatible with the E (Everyone) or E10+ rating are non-sensical and include items that people had paid for.
When going into a game with one of these items, they will be automatically replaced with something compatible with the island’s rating.
And if you’re reading this thinking that people are just whining about nothing – they aren’t. An example of the ridiculousness includes Swole Cat’s Meowscles outfit being banned on certain islands while Michael Myers, everyone’s favourite mass murderer, has no restrictions anywhere.
It’s also worth noting that Fortnite is rated T as a game, so even just based on that, the inclusion of exclusively E-rated islands doesn’t make much sense.
It also raises control over the future direction of Fortnite, with many fearing it’s just a matter of time until Epic turns Fortnite into just another Roblox.
Welp, our plan for cosmetics with the ratings update didn’t hit the mark.
We're working on a few new options that we hope to have in place for say… some sort of big in-game event. Stay tuned, we’ll keep you posted <3
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) November 19, 2023
However, maybe this won’t be the case because Epic is now walking the restrictions back in its entirety, although with the promise that a different system will follow shortly.
But now we want to know from you, what are your thoughts on Fortnite’s now short-lived E-rating system? Let us know in the comments.