Fortnite faces community backlash over the addition of bots in OG mode

By Patrick Hearn Published December 8, 2024

The recent launch of Fortnite OG shot the battle royale title back up the top of the charts, not that it ever really loosened the chokehold it has on the gaming community — and then the launch of the game’s first-person mode further stoked the flames. One recent change is not as welcome, however. Fortnite recently shared a post on X detailing the addition of Duos mode, as well as “matchmaking improvements in all Fortnite OG playlists.” That doesn’t sound like a red flag … until you read the comment section of the post.

Fortnite OG playlists just received bots, and players are taking that change about as well as they took the addition of No Build mode. In other words, it created a heck of a lot of controversy. The new bots aren’t overly aggressive, and therein lies the issue: They present no challenge. Player complaints are that the bots move slowly, make decisions that get them killed, and much more, according to PCGamesN.

Me and Bro landing at Dusty 🤝 Duos now live in Fortnite OG!

We've also made matchmaking improvements in all Fortnite OG playlists. Drop in and cop the win 🏆 pic.twitter.com/9WG3Dw06T8

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) December 7, 2024

However, the issue doesn’t seem to be as widespread at higher skill levels. Higher-level players haven’t reported as many bots, which suggests that less-skilled players might see more bot combatants. Epic Games has never clarified how bots work, but the AI-controlled moving targets have always been a part of Fortnite. The complaints don’t stop on X, either; the subreddit is full of players venting their frustrations or making suggestions on how to improve the system.

Fortnite OG hit 1.3 million concurrent users yesterday. That’s more than enough players to fill up a lobby, so bots aren’t a necessity — and given the way players have complained about their addition, Epic should consider an option to enable or disable bots in games.