Fortnite players are baffled by the absence of the police car skins on the Battle Royale game. Is Epic Games making a stand?
The missing cop cars are one of the biggest changes that players notice upon the arrival of Chapter 2, Season 3 on Fortnite. With the current political state of the U.S. right now, media outlets can’t help but speculate that the gaming giant is trying to make a stand.
Fortnite Chapter 2, Season 3 had an explosive entrance, following its thrice-extended delay. As many players now see, The Device blew up the whole map, and the flood came rushing adding an “under the sea” gameplay.
Missing: cop cars in Fortnite
Over the weekend, a sure in player reports flooded social media platforms, such as Reddit. They’ve noticed the absence of the police car skins among the array of “defunct vehicles,” in all the game modes inside the Battle Royale classic.
Per Comicbook, police cars have been replaced with default cars. The alleged removal can also be experienced in Creative mode—where players can create or modify their own gameplay.
The media outlet highlighted a Reddit comment from a player narrating that a default car hits the ground, even if a police car was selected for the “Junk Rift” feature in the aforementioned game mode.
is it true that all police cars are missing from fortnite?
epic has not yet commented on why they have disappeared.#Fortnite#FortniteSeason3 @FortniteStatus pic.twitter.com/RnACJNGTcI— ErenYaeger93 – FN News (@HeidiNurcan) June 21, 2020
Subtle but powerful testimony about the country’s recent event
As many online publications have reported, the U.S. government, particularly its police force, has been the center of criticisms and the reason behind the riots, following the death of George Floyd under the hands of four police officers.
The gaming industry has since been vocal of their stand, with multiple events and releases delayed to pay respect to this injustice. However, Engadget did note that it is hard for other companies to be apolitical or to take any sides.
“[..]it has a lot of players and revenue to lose if it sparks an uproar, regardless of which side it takes,” the media outlet notes.
Although, The Wall Street Journal‘s source says confirms that the removal of police cars is is not a “political statement,” but an attempt from Epic Games to show its respect and be “sensitive about the issues.”
WSJ noted that Fortnite houses more than 350 million players as of May. Engadget notes that Epic Games might lose revenue and players should it trigger an uproar, despite which side the game giant takes.
Meanwhile, this subtle change have been received with mixed reactions from the players. As Kotaku reports, the removal affects players’ gameplay, while others say that political statements “have no place in Fortnite.”
On the other hand, there’s are others that applaud Epic, saying the game’s devs will not take any of that ongoing “police brutality.”
Epic Games is yet to comment on this recent issue.
Featured image courtesy of Joshua Hoehne/Unsplash