Summary

  • Epic Games removed Sabrina Carpenter's "Caffeinated" emote from the Fortnite Item Shop.
  • The emote was pulled mere hours after launching on October 17, with Epic labeling the move as a "temporary" measure.
  • Some Fortnite players have criticized Caffeinated for using a sped-up, "Double Shot" version of Carpenter's hit single Espresso.

Epic Games has removed one of Sabrina Carpenter's Fortnite emotes from the Item Shop. The move arrived mere hours after the unlockable debuted in Fortnite.

The newly removed dance was called Caffeinated, and released as a Fortnite Icon Series emote on October 17. Much like that name implies, the animation is based on Espresso, Sabrina Carpenter's hit song from her 2024 studio album Short n' Sweet.

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Caffeinated was pulled from the Fortnite Item Shop within hours of becoming available for purchase. The game's official service Twitter update account acknowledged the change shortly thereafter, describing the move as a "temporary" measure, albeit without elaborating on what exactly prompted it. Epic promised to share details of when Caffeinated will return to the Item Shop in due time. The fact that the emote doesn't yet have a concrete return timeline suggests one isn't set in stone, and that the timing of its re-release will likely hinge on how quickly the developer manages to implement whatever changes it has in mind for it.

Fortnite Players Weren't Happy With Sabrina Carpenter Emote

As for what these changes could entail, the current abundance of fan complaints over Caffeinated might offer some clues. Specifically, many Fortnite players have criticized Epic's decision to use a faster version of Espresso for its emote. As one highly upvoted Reddit comment put it: "it sounds awful sped up." And while some of these complaints flat-out accused Epic of ruining the song, the company didn't actually do any major editing. Instead, its emote merely used the lesser-known "Double Shot" version of Espresso, which features higher-pitched vocals and a much faster tempo.

While this nightcore-style edit of Espresso (Double Shot Version) might be easier to fit into an energetic Fortnite emote, some fans argued that the slower original is still a good basis for a dance. After all, Epic didn't use the official faster version of Sabrina Carpenter's Feather for the Sonic Surfer emote, which was released alongside Caffeinated in mid-October 2024.

Given this state of affairs, it's possible that Caffeinated was pulled from the Item Shop because Epic wants to rework it and deliver the version that its most vocal fans seem to prefer. But such a scenario is still far from guaranteed, as the developer isn't exactly in the habit of redesigning emotes based on player feedback. On the rare occasion that it does that, its rework is usually motivated by underlying technical issues, like certain emotes causing bugs or crashes.

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Fortnite
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September 26, 2017
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Epic Games
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Epic Games
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