Some gamers are apparently unhappy with changes made to Epic Games’ massively popular free-to-play shooter Fortnite following the end of Chapter 3, as Google searches for the terms “Fortnite Sucks” and “Fortnite is dead” have increased dramatically in recent days. The online game recently underwent drastic changes during the Fortnite Fracture event, which saw the game world reconfigured yet again to kick off the beginning of Chapter 4.
Originally launched for PC in 2017, Epic Games’ Fortnite lets players take part in battle royale matches on a sprawling, cartoonish map filled with vehicles, weapon caches, and destructible buildings. Taking a decidedly lighter approach to the battle royale formula than competitors like Player Unknown’s Battlegrounds and Apex Legends, Fortnite has managed to garner a massive fanbase through a combination of regular updates to the free-to-play game and a steady stream of skins and other cosmetic items available for purchase. The recent Chapter 4 update brought support for the new Unreal Engine 5 to Fortnite, making the game’s colorful world look more impressive than ever.
In a story posted on comics and gaming site AverageBeing, it was revealed that searches for the term “Fortnite Sucks” on Google have risen by a whopping 1821.9% since the launch of Fortnite Chapter 4. The term “Fortnite is dead” saw a similar spike in search traffic, doubling from its usual search volume to increase by 875.6%. However, not all of the Fortnite-related search terms that saw an increase in usage were so negative, with the general term “Fortnite chapter 4” also experiencing a jump. While many players had expressed excitement about the multitude of new features in Fortnite Chapter 4 in the lead-up to its launch, these search results make it clear that some gamers are less than pleased with changes to the title.
Curiously, the drastic increase in “Fortnite is dead” searches seemed to be primarily limited to a few geographic locations. While the term saw an increase in use worldwide during the period being looked at, the largest spikes were seen in New Zealand and Singapore, which saw increases of 100% and 71% respectively. AverageBeing speculated that the general pessimism towards Fortnite exhibited in the search results could be blowback from false rumors on Twitter that Fortnite would shut down permanently ahead of the release of Chapter 4.
Regardless of the reasons behind the spike in pessimistic searches related to Fortnite in recent days, such a drastic jump in negative sentiment towards the popular shooter is a worrying sign. Whether the result of unfounded Twitter rumors or frustration at the constant changes to the game, it’s clear that some Fortnite players are less than happy. For those frustrated with the changes, at least there’s always the ability to play a few rounds in the Fortnite classic map in Creative Mode.
Fortnite is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: AverageBeing
