Fortnite Chapter 2’s new map leaked back in September, but everybody thought it was fake. For those that don’t know: this week Fortnite Chapter 2 launched, revamping the game with a new map, new gameplay features, new weapons, and much more. As a result, fans have returned to the PS4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch and mobile battle royale game in droves, adding to its already massive active player base. Of course, the biggest draw is the game’s brand-new map, which is completely different from the game’s previous map everybody and their dog’s sister knew by heart. That said, this map leaked back in September, but everybody shot it down as a fake.
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As you may remember, in September a dubious map surfaced on r/fortnitecompetitive. The post — which has since been removed — claimed it was the leaked map for Season 11, and was obtained from a “friend” of an Epic employee. Now, stories like this pop all the time across the Internet, and are instantly written off as fake, which this mostly was. Every time it surfaced on Reddit or Twitter, it was either downvoted to heck or deemed as fake in the comments. But it wasn’t.
Interestingly, earlier this month, the map once again resurfaced, this time via a prominent dataminer in the game’s community, but fans and Internet detectives remained incredibly doubtful, despite the fact that at this point it looked almost a certainty that Epic Games was getting ready to destroy the game’s map and add a new one.
While many were still doubtful, the post started to gain serious traction until someone on Twitter came forward and claimed it was a fake. In tweets since deleted, the user said they were behind the original post on Reddit, and that they made it on photoshop. But this was a lie, prompted by Epic Games pressuring the leaker about the leak. Eurogamer spoke to the original leaker who declined to reveal how they got a hold of the map, but noted that they made the decision to claim it was fan-made after presumably a very angry Epic Games got in contact.
So, moral of the story? Don’t be so quick to write off leaks as fakes. Even the most dubious ones sometimes end up being legit.
