Fortnite "Infinity Blade" Backlash

Overview

Fornite "Infinity Blade" Backlash refers to the addition of an all-powerful weapon, the Infinity Blade, from the video game Infinity Blade to the video game Fortnite. Both games were produced by the developer Epic. Following the addition, fans of the game complained that the Infinity Blade was too powerful, so Epic removed the weapon.

Background

On December 10th, 2018, the official Fortnite Twitter ^[1] account tweeted an advertisement for the weapon. The post received more than 14,000 retweets, 90,000 likes and 14 million views in one week.

Two days later on December 11th, Epic released Fortnite version 7.01, which included the Infinity Blade.^[2]

Developments

Online Reaction

Over the next 24 hours, fans and players of the game complained about the sword on various websites. On Twitter, fans and players called the weapon "horrible" and said that they would be leaving the game until it was removed (shown below).

On December 12th, Redditor ^[3] WindAeris created a "mega thread," culling together all discussions about the blade. They wrote, "With the recent patch as you all know, the game's first new/additional melee weapon and the game's first Mythic weapon was introduced in the form of The Infinity Blade, a homage to the Infinity Blade series and a new addition that has to say in the last stirred up some discussion around the subreddit. We have noticed a huge influx of posts about it and for the health of discussion about it would like to offer this megathread as a redirect point for less in depth threads that way each individual point has more exposure." The post received more than 960 points (76% upvoted) and 2,700 comments.

Two days later, Redditor^[4] Fortnitenoob202 posted "Mythic items have no place in the game, and they will ruin it" in the /r/FortniteBR subreddit. In the thread, they criticized the weapon. They wrote:

"The Infinity Blade is insane. I know Epic's going to nerf it, taking out building while a player has it in 7.10, but it still doesn't fit in a game like Fortnite. For those that don't know the exact stats, the Infinity Blade allows 130% mobility, has 2 attacks, one that swings the blade in a circle, dealing 75 damage to anyone inside its range, and another attack that allows the player wielding the blade to jump extremely far, launching players within its range into the air, as well as dealing 25 damage. Both attacks can be done in rapid succession. The Blade also grants the player wielding it a maximum 200 health and 200 shield, both of which can be regenerated if damage is taken, at a rate of 1 health or shield per second (doesn't work for a few seconds after getting hit or taking damage in other ways) and killing another player grants 50 health or shield, unless both are full. The player wielding the Blade can also tear through structures instantly, and can build their own (as of writing this post, it will allegedly be removed in 7.10).

It's not a balanced weapon, to say the least. However, the removal of building will make mobility items and long range weapons it's weakness more than before, so at least there's that. But what's the point of carrying balloons just because I don't want to die to a single player in my lobby? Any and all items should be used to a player's discretion, not forced upon a player because of a single item. While some players want to play a legitimate game, most others (at least 30 per game, at least in the games I've played) would rather take a shot at getting the Blade early, and instantly killing anyone and everyone within their sight. This makes it impossible to play the game as I believe Epic intends it to be played. A battle royale. Not some ridiculous luck-based system where whoever wins over a single location has an extremely high chance of winning the whole game.

Epic's Reaction

On December 13th, an Epic representative posted a thread about the Infinity Blade on the /r/FortniteBR subreddit.^[5] They wrote:

"The change we’re currently planning for the Infinity Blade in our v7.10 update is to remove the ability to build and harvest when wielding the Blade.

"When designing the Infinity Blade the goal was to provide a weapon with inherent risk to balance out the great capability it provides – the ability to harvest/build removes a great deal of that risk. By taking away the ability to harvest/build we hope to tune the Infinity Blade to where it feels risky to have, but still satisfying to wield."

On December 14th, @FortniteGame tweeted,^[6] "Heya folks, We messed up and rolled out the Infinity Blade overpowered / without good counters, especially in the end game. The Infinity Blade has been Vaulted and we are re-evaluating our approach to Mythic items. Thanks for calling us out on this!" The tweet received more than 26,000 retweets and 184,000 likes in three days (shown below).

Media Coverage

Several media outlets covered the backlash, including Forbes,^[7] Variety,^[8] TechCrunch^[9] and more.

Search Interest

External Reference