Fortnite does not give a single second of respite to its players. A few days after announcing the controversial measure to give cheaters a second chance, a bug in the game itself allows cheating to go virtually unpunished. This bug, discovered by the community, grants immunity to storm damage - although we can still take damage from other players - which has allowed many to win games unfairly. This has sparked a wave of criticism against Epic Games for a bug of this magnitude.
Fortnite “doesn’t want cheaters,” but lets you cheat: Here’s the new bug that makes you invulnerable to storm damage
On February 27, Fortnite announced a major change in its approach to fairly punishing cheaters, announcing a historic move that would change the rules of the game. Under the policy change, which will be implemented starting in April, indefinite suspensions will only be applied to repeat cheaters or the most serious cases. On the other hand, those who commit minor cheats, generate false positives, or occasionally cheat will no longer be immediately banned. Instead, they will receive a one-year suspension, during which time they will only be able to use the game for voice and text chat, but will not be able to participate in games.
This decision by Epic Games, which was not without controversy in the gaming community despite its attempt to balance Fortnite’s competitive ecosystem, has been called into question due to a bug in Fortnite itself. Just a few days later, on March 4, players discovered a bug in the game related to a story mission in the current season. In Crime City, one of the new areas of the map, the NPC Big Dill gives us a mission that consists of organizing a party for him. Although it seems like a typical errand boy mission where we simply have to look for items like drinks and records in the area, for some strange reason this mission grants players immunity to the storm. Not only that, but in Battle Royale modes - where construction is enabled - the bug also increases the material limit from 500 to 999, providing an advantage that is as significant as it is unfair.
The result is that players can now activate Big Dill’s mission to hide in the storm, where they will take no damage, and simply wait for the storm to engulf the other players who will suffer its effects. While this does not directly make those who use the bug immortal, it effectively makes them invincible, as the other players would have to enter the storm - where they would gradually lose life - in order to eliminate them. This strategy, enabled by the game itself, makes it easier to win games unfairly by taking advantage of this exploit. As expected, the community was quick to express its frustration on social media such as Reddit and X, unleashing a wave of criticism against Epic Games for allowing such a significant bug to go unnoticed, especially a few days later after “softening” its stance against cheaters.
Despite Epic Games theoretically disabling the mission as a drastic measure to prevent the intentional activation of this bug once word got out, we were able to verify for ourselves that this current bug is indeed still available in Fortnite. While they have disabled a Big Dill side mission that triggered this bug, there is another main mission that is identical and also allows you to be invulnerable to storm damage.
The irony of this situation is that while Epic Games has implemented measures to prevent cheating behavior in Fortnite, this bug in the game not only allows cheating, but actively encourages it. Despite their efforts to create a fairer ecosystem, bugs and glitches like this seem to undermine those attempts, reminding us that even with the best of intentions, technical vulnerabilities can become a license for cheaters.
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