Fortnite ditching Rocket Racing, Ballistic and Festival – when modes will be taken offline | Gaming | Entertainment
Fortnite Rocket Racing is being taken offline (Image: EPIC GAMES)
Fortnite fans have been dealt a blow this week, as Epic Games announces plans to shelf three game modes in the near future. Citing low player engagement, Epic Games is taking Rocket Racing, Ballistic and Festival Battle Stage offline on PlayStation, Xbox, PC, Nintendo Switch and mobile. The news comes just days after the launch of Chapter 7, Season 2. Epic explains more: “We’ve built a lot of Fortnite modes, and in some cases we failed to build something awesome enough to attract and retain a large player base.”
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It all starts in April, when tactical first-person shooter Ballistic and PVP Festival Battle Stage will be removed from Fortnite.
Specifically, Ballistic and Battle Stage will be taken offline alongside the 40.20 update on April 16.
According to Epic Games, fans will be able to play and rank up in Ballistic until it goes offline
Developers will be able to continue using first-person shooter tools in UEFN, while FPS creator islands will also be supported.
“In order for developers to build modes like Ballistic, more UEFN features will be required such as custom weapon support, ranked support, and additional matchmaking features,” Epic adds.
Festival Battle Stage will also be removed on April 16, although Epic points out that “music remains a major part of Fortnite”.
Indeed, Festival Main Stage and Festival Jam Stage will remain in Fortnite, with Epic pledging to improve the game modes.
Rocket Racing, on the other hand, will remain in Fortnite until October this year. This includes all UEFN islands built with Rocket Racing templates.
However, Rocket Racing Quests will be removed next week, alongside the current track creation templates.
Epic has also confirmed that no further Ranked rewards are planned for this season.
On the plus side, your Vehicle Locker and your customised cars will remain in Fortnite.
Likewise, Epic is getting ready to add new car physics, hazards, and track-building tools to the base UEFN toolset.
“Developers will also be able to build custom racing islands with jumps, boosts, and drifting. Before October, developers will be able to move compatible Rocket Racing content over to standalone UEFN islands.”
