A number of Call of Duty-themed maps made on Fortnite Creative 2.0 have been removed following DMCA takedowns issued by Activision. Fortnite Creative 2.0 is the latest iteration of Fortnite Creative and has opened the doors for fans to show their creativity by making custom maps and modes.Fortnite Creative is a sandbox meta-game in which players can build their maps within an editor of Unreal Engine and share them online through codes. It was first released in 2018 and was recently revamped as Fortnite Creative 2.0, also known as Unreal Editor for Fortnite. Fans were quick to show their ingenuity with some of the best Fortnite Creative 2.0 maps including the horror map Scary Doll from user Kool_Light69, the business-management GemStone Tycoon made by Infinity.Studios, and the original Chapter 1 Fortnite Battle Royale map was even recreated by Atlas Creative.A number of user-made maps that quickly gained popularity were recreations of fan-favorite Call of Duty maps, but these maps have recently been delisted due to DMCA takedowns issued by Activision. This news was shared by online creator Jake Lucky who spread the word about these takedowns on Twitter with a clip featuring gameplay from these maps made by a user named Mist Jawa. The maps shown included recreations of the Call of Duty maps Rust and Shipment. Epic had previously warned players about its intellectual property guidelines in Fortnite Creative 2.0 which can cause Fortnite creators to face consequences.
Mist Jawa made their own statement on Twitter saying they would no longer be recreating copyrighted maps and that their previously made maps have been deleted. Additionally, they removed all of their Tweets and YouTube videos associated with said maps. Some fans have pointed out that fan levels made in the level editor for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 have similarly featured recreations of places from other intellectual properties such as the Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 custom Zombies map which recreates Dunder Mifflin from The Office.
Level editors such as Fortnite Creative 2.0, Forge mode from the Halo series, and the level editor in Far Cry 5 have been invaluable in helping players create their own experiences and help keep the communities for these games active. Not only that, but it also opens the doors for gamers to bring in maps that would otherwise not be available such as the original Fortnite Chapter 1 map which was remade in Fortnite Creative 2.0. While the unfortunate legal gray areas that some of these creations exist in can result in takedowns, their popularity demonstrates the value of supporting these modes. With Fortnite Creative 2.0 only a few weeks old, there will surely be more to see from the game's prolific and creative community.
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