Epic Games released the nostalgic Fortnite OG mode alongside Chapter 6 Season 1, and while most players are excited, many have already called for one major change, increasingly frustrated by the bots in the game.
Fortnite only recently gave players a throwback season in the form of Fortnite Remix, but instead of enjoying this ‘classic’ game for just a couple of weeks, Fortnite OG is here to stay.
Unfortunately, while most are enjoying the opportunity to take out their enemies with a Bolt Action Sniper Rifle from the top of Tilted Towers, not everyone is impressed.
Just days after the Fortnite Remix finale smashed records for the game’s all-time concurrent player count, Fortnite OG brought in over a million players in just 20 minutes. The problem is, that not everyone is sure they’re legitimate.
Fortnite OG packed with bots
Even before Fortnite OG was released, there were complaints that the game was being swarmed by bots. It’s more obvious than ever in Fortnite OG, with Redditor u/khaled_o_ saying they’re running rampant in the mode.
They explained: “Unfortunately, bots were the primary reason why my friends and I lost interest in playing Fortnite,” and it seems like they aren’t alone.
Others in the comments agreed as someone else added: “I’m salty that I missed OG without bots. Couldn’t play until this evening and I was so hype to play a no-bot game and lo and behold, bots everywhere.”
A third added, “It’s boring when you encounter bots the whole game and then finally fight a real player at the end… there’s no skill involved and it’s just a waiting game and hoping you don’t die instantly at the end,”
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Another concluded, “Funnily enough they’ve implemented them in such a terrible way it f**ks over both bot lobby only players AND players who want to play against actual players….”
Fortnite has openly been adding AI bots to the game since the addition of Skill-Based Matchmaking in 2019, while complaints about SBMM and bots have become a lot more commonplace in 2024.
Third-party coaching and analytics service Osiron claimed that up to 90% of players in a lobby are bots, with this shrinking to anywhere between 90 and 10 bots in ‘medium’ SBMM matches.
BOTS IN FORTNITE OG INFO ‼️ [VIA @osirion_gg]• 90 Bots in LOW SBMM (if you have no thumbs)• 10-90 in MEDIUM SBMM• 10 Bots in HIGH SBMM pic.twitter.com/cJ2FgE2OKD
— HYPEX (@HYPEX) December 7, 2024
When the official Fortnite X account cheered a fix for matchmaking issues and the introduction of Fortnite OG Duos, the comments were instead filled with angry players calling out the bot issues. One popular comment saw someone joke: “I just encountered a real player in my lobby, are you already aware of that bug?”
It’s obvious there are a lot of real players being lured back to Fortnite thanks to Fortnite OG, but with it, the bots are back and worse than ever. Things are even more frustrating when you realize that Fortnite OG launched without bots and it was a conscious effort from Epic to add them at a later date.
The question is, will they change this going forward?