Fortnite kicked off Chapter 5 at the end of last year. It did this by not only releasing the expected update for Battle Royale, but by adding three completely new gamemodes to its lineup of offered experiences. The new modes were LEGO Fortnite, the Guitar Hero-esque Fortnite Festival, and Rocket Racing — a competitive racing game created in tandem with Rocket League developer Psyonix. Fortnite has offered different modes for players to engage with in the past, but they've primarily been limited to user-created experiences or LTMs built upon Battle Royale's core gameplay.
Epic Games' decision to break away from its foundations and turn Fortnite into a metaverse for gaming was a bold one. While it makes sense that Epic wouldn't want to place all its eggs in the Battle Royale basket, Fortnite's expansion into these three new modes has been a cause for concern. Epic Games already saw significant layoffs last year partway through Fortnite's unpopular Chapter 4. Spreading the already thinned staff across three new modes in addition to Battle Royale ensured that Fortnite would have more modes to advertise, but the ability of these smaller teams to deliver the level of content and polish expected by players was called into question. With Chapter 5 nearing its end, a recent decision by Epic regarding one mode in particular has proved players correct in a concerning way.
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The Future of Rocket Racing — and Fortnite as a Whole
In a post from the development team behind Rocket Racing, it was seemingly confirmed that Epic Games is ending its support for Fortnite's racing mode. Hidden between a list of ranked mode changes and a handful of bug fixes, the team shared that it will no longer be releasing themed updates for the mode. These are Rocket Racing's equivalent of seasons. It was also implied that the team won't be adding any more developer-made maps to Rocket Racing.
The post instead discussed the infinite potential of user-made maps in UEFN, essentially telling players that — if they want more maps for Rocket Racing — they can go make one themselves. The only confirmed official content in Rocket Racing's future are new quests, new ranked periods, and new purchaseable cosmetics for vehicles.
The Difficult History of Rocket Racing
It isn't a complete surprise that Epic is already sunsetting Rocket Racing not even a year after the mode's release. While none of the three modes added in Chapter 5 have proven to be as successful as Battle Royale, Rocket Racing has easily performed the worst. The mode saw regularly low player counts due to lackluster gameplay, and cosmetics for Rocket Racing were critiqued for being too expensive. That being said, Epic Games has now set a dangerous precedent.
The Impact on Fortnite's Other Modes
Players were already worried about the quality of Fortnite's content after the developer further divided its limited resources. With Epic's apparent decision to sideline Rocket Racing, Epic is also giving up a portion of the trust that fans have placed in it over the years. Epic has typically been quick to make fixes in Fortnite based on player feedback, but the developer has shown that it's now willing to abandon an entire mode if the going gets tough. Not only that, but Epic is willing to abandon a mode that it has been selling players cosmetics for.
Though Battle Royale seems secure at the moment, Epic will have its work cut out for it when trying to convince players to invest both time and money in any new Fortnite modes. A mode like Fortnite Festival could have its support pulled just as easily. With Fortnite's Chapter 6 right around the corner, it's entirely possible that Epic will try to add even more modes to the game.
What's especially concerning is that Epic would rather use the hard work of UEFN creators to sustain Rocket Racing in an attempt to convince players to buy customization options instead of just removing the mode, reimbursing those who already spent money on it, and diverting the resources being used on vehicle cosmetics into places that will actually enhance the user experience. It is possible for Epic to recover from this and demonstrate care for its other modes. However, the developer's handling of Rocket Racing has proven that nothing is permanent in this game — even if the game's shop tabs will try to convince players otherwise.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 84 /100 Critics Rec: 94%
- Released
- September 26, 2017
- ESRB
- T for Teen - Diverse Content: Discretion Advised, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
- Developer(s)
- Epic Games
- Publisher(s)
- Epic Games
WHERE TO PLAY
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- Engine
- Unreal Engine 5
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- All platforms (except iOS/Mac)
- Cross Save
- Via Epic Account
- Number of Players
- 1-4 players (online)
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch 2, Nintendo Switch, PC, Android, iOS
- X|S Optimized
- YES
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-4 players (certain modes)
- OpenCritic Rating
- Mighty
