Fortnite Developers Apologize For Surprise Change That Wiped Out Several Players’ Bases

Developer Epic Games issued anapology this morning after several fans of Fortnite, a surprisingly cute player vs. environment game about surviving the apocalypse, were caught off guard when their labored-after bases disappeared. The unannounced change was a part of an early morningpatch for the Early Access game.

Players say they spentseveral dozen hoursconstructing bases on the Plankerton, Canny Valley or Twine maps, only for these bases to be suddenly removed this morning. In Fortnite, bases reflect players’ advancement through the game and grant rewards like better stats for players and their allies. A major part of Fortnite’s appeal is constructing and strategizing around those bases.

A big patch this morning made changes to Fortnite’s UI and added bug fixes. It also removed player bases on maps where the changes made these bases inconsistent. Unfortunately, this big base demolition wasn’t announced prior to the patch or in Epic Games’ first version of their patch notes. Players were not pleased:

This is crazy, I apparently had used over 33k steel and 50k stone over dozens of hours.
You should have given us at least a 24 hour notice.

— Thorlord (@Thorlord) August 4, 2017

https://twitter.com/embed/status/893436046293311488

54/15 inventory representing 50-60 hours of building lost. How to lose a fanbase right here. pic.twitter.com/w7MnwD8sAy

— Peteheart💜 (@psouza4) August 4, 2017

https://twitter.com/embed/status/893451124136701952

https://twitter.com/embed/status/893506614422122501

Epic Games immediately responded to players’ complaints and issued a very candid apology. A representative explained that Epic Games was tweaking the game’s balance at higher difficulties and, as a result, had to change up some maps. Some bases would conflict with the map changes. Epic Games says:

“Ok first we messed up in missing a HUGE part of our patch notes. I apologize. We understand how much time you have invested in building your Storm Shield base, it’s your home, your defense, your vision, we feel that way too. We will be dedicated in providing detailed at patch notes going forward. In our haste to get this patch out we missed clarifying tweaks to the Plankerton, Canny Valley and Twine Peaks Storm Shield maps. . . As we move through Early Access we will be modifying the game and making changes to improve the experience, at times this will mean changes that require refunds to core systems like the skill tree, research tree, and storm shields.”

Fortnite’s community has beenexceptionallyunderstanding after Epic Games explained their decision. (In my experience, the game’s community has been uniformly kind.) That’s in part because Epic refunded players’ building materials. Also, in part, it’s because lots of players welcomed the opportunity to build better bases. These kinds of things happen in Early Access games, and it’s uplifting to see the community respond with such sympathy after everything was explained.