Update: The image of the letter has been removed as per the request of the site owner.
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Fortnite is a game that, despite the seemingly split views on its enjoyable nature, continues to smash through records left and right for concurrent players enjoying the Battle Royale experience. Unfortunately for the team at Epic Games, their files seem rather vulnerable to prying eyes, which means datamining is super easy to do in order to find hidden items and events on the way. It looks like the studio isn’t taking it lying down anymore, because they took legal action against one of the biggest leak sites and they have officially ceased all operations.
According to Eurogamer, several major leaking sites have been hit with the below cease and desist letter including the biggest of them all: FNBRLeaks. The site’s leader also gave the announcement of deletion over on TwitLonger to give fans the bad news, “Due to the request of an Epic Games Attorney who I’m not going to disclose, my Twitter, Discord, YouTube, Instagram and Github must be deleted, or else they will take action,” site owner Preston wrote. “Thank you all for the support and followers over my seven month span of the FNBRLeaks Twitter.”
The main cause of concern for the studio is that the rapid-fire leaks “have spoiled the game for millions of people who play and/or watch Fortnite and negatively impact those who work hard to create and update Fortnite.”
Given that part of Fortnite’s charm is its whimsicle aesthetic and shocking twists and turns seen in every new season, it is fair for them to mention that it “ruins” certain aspect of the game. When a title relies on surprises and those surprises get leaked weeks in advance, the cause of concern is noteworthy.
As for the site itself, it’s still technically live with even the most recent nerf news for what’s to come. Since the site hosts tons of datamined images, pngs, and other sorts of items that Epic Games hasn’t released yet, it’s unclear how long the site will actually remain available to view.
What are your thoughts on Epic Games’ legal action? Justified, or let dataminers play? Join in on the conversation in the comment section below, or hit me up over on Twitter @DirtyEffinHippy for even more gaming goodness!
Update #2: Reason behind shutdown detailed:
Commentfrom discussion Epic just made FNBRLeaks delete all forms of social media.
