As gamers return to Epic Games’ battle royale in droves thanks to Fortnite OG, its lingering bot presence has the player base baffled.
Fortnite’s AI combatants were introduced in Chapter 2: Season 1 and were brought in to assist new players in learning the ropes. This addition was meant to pair with Fortnite’s skill-based matchmaking, but it seems bots have seeped into the higher levels of play. Players on social media today claim there’s a staggering number of bots in their online matches, despite the millions of real-life gamers flocking onto servers. First spotted by Dexerto, it seems gamers and esports personalities alike believe “it doesn’t make sense” to have this many bots at differing levels.
These Fortnite bots can do almost anything a human can do, just at a significantly lower level. Bots can build, shoot, run away from the circle, and even drive a car. However, completing these tasks doesn’t earn them a place in certain players’ lobbies.
Players claim they should be sent to the depths of lower-skilled lobbies, leaving the top-tier gamers to fight amongst themselves in Fortnite. This should be significantly easier to achieve considering the sheer number of players rekindling their love for Fortnite in recent weeks, according to the player base.
Epic Games’ battle royale set an all-time record player peak at the beginning of November, hours after Fortnite OG was available to play. On Nov. 4, Fortnite amassed 44.7 million players in one day alone, 48 hours after OG was released.
With this many players jumping off the battle bus over the past few weeks, queues have made matchmaking difficult. Pair this with weekly updates, reintroducing old maps, weapons, and experiences, it seems Epic might have its hands full for now. However, there’s always the possibility that Fortnite might lose a collection of gamers before it’s fixed.
