Epic Games have made some unannounced changes to the Fortnite storm circles following the release of the v12.61 update.
The latest Fortnite patch, 12.61, released on May 26, addressed controller aim assist issues, introduced new challenges, and included the usual bug fixes, that are often seen in each update.
However, shortly after the new update went live, some Fortnite players claimed that there were some other changes that had not been included in the latest patch notes, after noticing something unusual with the collapsing storm circles.
A change to the storms has now made it that the first circles are now completely random, with massive differences in size and location, compared to the similar patterns that they used to follow.
Fortnite streamer AussieAntics was among the first few to highlight the new safe zones, sharing one example where only the corner of the island was safe.
The new circles have shown a lot of variances, with some of the early storms keeping the entire map as a safe zone and others where it would cut off the majority of the map, only a few minutes into a match.
Ummm… Can anyone confirm if they changed how zones work…? pic.twitter.com/fsvAyWWoxY
— DIG Aussie Antics (@AussieAntics) May 26, 2020
However, it only seems to be the first circle that is affected by these changes, with the following safe zones abiding by the regular patterns, as seen before the patch, when scaling down in the late game.
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Other Fortnite stars x2Twins also noticed the bizarre storm, pointing out that it had encompassed the entire map during one of their livestreams on the new patch.
However, while the hidden changes have been affecting public matches, it seems as if competitive games and Arena have not been impacted by the new safe zones.
While many theories have been circling about these hidden changes, one of the more likely ones was shared by Ali-A and other Fortnite players, who claimed that it could be Midas and the Doomsday Device that were causing the unusual patterns.
It’s a build-up to the live event this weekend, it hasn’t be implemented as serious change to the storm!
— Ali-A (@OMGitsAliA) May 26, 2020
As it recently announced that Fortnite’s end-of-season event has been delayed, players will have to wait a little while longer to see what else this Doomsday Device might have in-store.