‘Fortnite’ fans in uproar over age-restricted skin changes

Fortnite developer Epic Games is under fire for restricting skins that players can use in certain matches.

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Through a blog post on the Fortnite website, Epic Games announced all islands in the game will be given age ratings. While on its own this seems rather innocuous, it has led to every cosmetic item in the game, including skins, also being given an age rating. This has resulted in several items being unable to be used on islands.

“While there are thousands of Fortnite cosmetics for all experiences, a small portion is not compatible with E or E10+ (or regionally equivalent) game ratings,” reads the blog post. “In these cases, players will notice a new icon in their Locker and in the Item Shop indicating which Outfits and accessories cannot be equipped inside islands below a certain rating threshold.”

holy shit the Fortnite age restriction thing is actually insane

that's Lara Croft, Black Widow, Cable, Doctor Doom and Domino

It does appear to mainly be gun-based. Like if you have a pistol holster or even an ammo clip, you're gone pic.twitter.com/1ykkBD6zJv

— Paul Tassi (@PaulTassi) November 16, 2023

Forbes writer Paul Tassi notes that skins such as Lara Croft, Black Widow, Cable, Doctor Doom, and Domino are restricted, also noting that the restrictions “appear to mainly be gun-based”.

In a statement to IGN following the update, Epic said that “about 7 per cent of Fortnite outfits can only be equipped in islands rated Teen”, going on to specify that “over the next year, we will enable most of these outfits to be compatible with all ratings by having them auto-adjust appearance based on the island you want to play.”

While this is only in certain islands, with Battle Royale and Zero Build remaining T For Teen, fans have been complaining online, with one writing on X (formerly Twitter):

“This is NOT what I thought that rating system would mean. I assume it would mean we’d be getting more mature skins in various ways, not the skin we already own [getting] restricted.”

In other gaming news, the Baldur’s Gate 3 Xbox release date will be officially revealed at The Game Awards 2023.

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