‘Fortnite’ Says 7% Of All Skins Are Age-Restricted For Some Maps, For Now

The Fortnite community has been in a frenzy since Epic upgraded the game on Thursday to incorporate a new “age rating” function for its cosmetics. The change bans the use of certain skins and cosmetics in Fortnite Creative maps that are not rated for ages 10 and up.

It’s a tremendously unpopular move based on what’s been chosen for age-gating, and players are complaining that they paid dozens or hundreds of dollars for several skins that can no longer be utilized across the full game, with some areas being off-limits.

New skins now state whether they are age-restricted before purchase, but these older ones are not, and users must now go through their libraries to find out what is prohibited.

Epic has issued an official statement on the matter, claiming that 7% of Fortnite skins now have an age restriction, which is significant given the game’s large number of skins.

‘Fortnite’ Says 7% Of All Skins Are Age-Restricted For Some Maps, For Now

They also stated that in 2024, they would work on a mechanism to make these skins “acceptable” for the E-for-Everyone rated maps, but when I inquired, they stated that this would not be achievable for all cosmetics.

What exactly has been prohibited here? There appear to be two major sorts of restrictions depending on two specific elements:

The first is guns or gun-related elements. If the skin has a pistol in a holster connected to it or even grenades or ammo clips in a belt, it is age-restricted.

Many have pointed out the obvious irony of this, given that Fortnite is a Teen-rated game based upon killing each other with dozens and dozens of different weaponry in the battle royale map. But Epic wants to carve aside a gun-free version of Creative, which means you can’t use your paid-for skins there if there’s even a pistol on their hip.

‘Fortnite’ Says 7% Of All Skins Are Age-Restricted For Some Maps, For Now

Epic has even gone so far as to modify the loading screens and even the game’s emblem to show people without guns.

The second category is more nebulous, which I would mostly describe as “scary things.” This category of skins and cosmetics is not “armed” but too intense for children under ten. This includes a strange-looking monkey robot back bling I possess, a Midas spray, a scary main game character, and a Venom skin.

The Venom example is interesting since it demonstrates no restrictions depending on the nature of the IP source material. Venom is “too scary,” but he appears in a Teen-rated Spider-Man game and PG-13 films. Meanwhile, Michael Myers, Kratos, and Omni-Man are all safe despite their violent franchises.

One more minor category might simply be named “I have no idea.” I’m attempting to figure out why Epic has age-restricted my mining equipment: only two knives, but not axes, swords, scythes, cleavers, or even single knives (Michael Myers’ butcher knife).

‘Fortnite’ Says 7% Of All Skins Are Age-Restricted For Some Maps, For Now

For some of these, you can guess what the “fix” will be: permanently removing gun holsters and ammo belts from characters or when they log onto age-restricted maps. Some of these, however, are unchangeable. For example, I doubt you’ll put a symbiote cheerful face on Venom.

The move has been condemned as being out of touch with the community, which is fighting the “Roblox-ification” of Fortnite.

Once again, this appears to be an attempt by Tim Sweeney to promote his metaverse goals by making big portions of Fortnite Creative “all ages” friendly, which means no guns and no terrifying faces.

Given how set in their views Epic is about everything, it does not appear likely that they will change their minds. Their update to begin un-age-restricting cosmetics through changes will begin in 2024, but it’s a significant question whether all of these skins should be eligible for refunds, given this unforeseen change that restricts their use.

SOURCE – (Forbes)