Epic Games Disables Fortnite's Friendly Fire

Epic Games has turned off the friendly fire feature in Fortnite to prevent teammates from trolling each other.

Friendly fire is always a tricky subject in games, and Fortnite is no exception. With friendly fire enabled in the Battle Royale mode, players had to strike a balance between taking out their enemies while watching out for their own teammates. When you throw in explosive weapons like rocket launchers and grenades into this formula, avoiding hurting your teammates becomes even more important.

But also like many other games, Fortnite developed a teamkilling problem after players abused the system. In light of that misuse and player feedback, Epic Games announced the decision to turn off the friendly fire feature.

"We've received a lot of feedback on this subject, and it's something we've been watching closely.

"Today we're making a change in an attempt to reduce team killing in Fortnite Battle Royale. Starting immediately, we're going to disable friendly fire. This change will not require a client update.

"We understand that when players abuse friendly fire it can be an incredibly frustrating experience. However, we also recognize that friendly fire encourages thoughtful play and careful tactics. The impact of this change will be closely monitored, and in the case that those tactics are too negatively affected we may evaluate other methods of reducing team killing."

Epic Games also requested that players let them know what their thoughts are on the subject, and Fortnite players were quick to do so. Some suggested that straight up turning off the feature was perhaps not the best route to take since friendly fire does have some benefit when it comes to tactics as Epic Games mentioned. Others brought up the rocket launchers and other explosives mentioned previously that now won't cause any damage to teammates, meaning that they'll become a much more viable close-quarters weapon without having to worry about who else is nearby.

The friendly fire debate is one that Epic Games has been discussing for a while, and for now, it seems that this is the option they're going with regarding the system. It could change further based on player feedback and Epic Games' decision, but for now, friendly fire is no more.