Fortnite fans might need to tone it down on some of their Creative 2.0 creations as they've already stepped into copyright infringement territory. Ever since it was released, the Creative game mode has been a hit among Fortnite players. It has given them tons of gameplay possibilities and certainly added replay value to the game. With Creative, players were able to enter practice shooting ranges, battle it out in special box fight arenas, and even spend time in chilled-out fishing tournaments and Fortnite-themed prop hunt games.
On March 22, 2023, Epic Games finally released a much more complex and developed creative hub called Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), which fans have now coined Creative 2.0. Even though the creative process is quite different, once finished the maps and games made with UEFN are published as Creative Islands, and gamers can access Fortnite Creative 2.0 just like they would its counterpart.
As soon as it became available, content creators started publishing maps using the UEFN app, including reproductions of the OG Chapter 1 Fortnite map. Epic Games has come out and reinforced the idea that they do not allow the use of others' copyrighted intellectual property without authorization, and this includes Battle Royale island maps from previous Chapters and all of their seasonal variations over the years. In the same blog post, they announced that they would be updating these terms to make an exception for Chapter 1 island remakes.
Although fans of Chapter 2 and Chapter 3's maps were not happy with this new piece of information, gamers wanting to play on the original Fortnite map were delighted to hear that they would be able to keep doing so. It was also revealed that even though recreations of the map would be allowed, the content creators making them would not be able to generate revenue this way.
Recently, Epic Games modified the Support-a-Creator program with the introduction of Creator Economy 2.0, and it revealed how much money creators would be able to earn with Fortnite Creative 2.0 islands monetization. Payouts would be made taking into consideration island popularity and replayability, but it seems like map recreations won't be eligible for monetization because, even though authorization has been given, the IP still belongs to Epic Games. This might dissuade some creations out of making their own version of the Chapter 1 map, but thankfully it makes it possible for players to keep enjoying the ones that have already been published and will continue to be improved.
Fortnite is available now for Mobile, PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
Source: Epic Games