Most battle royale games require players to make precise, detailed movements, and an aspect of that involves listening for enemy footsteps at every chance they get. Unfortunately, Fortnite players found out that the Riot Control Baton allowed players to produce no footsteps when walking, resulting in unfair kills. Now, Epic Games, the developer behind the mega-popular shooter, has announced that it is disabling the harvesting tool for the time being until the developers can fix the audio problems associated with it.
Epic Games announced the news via Fortnite's official support Twitter account, much to the heartbreak of fans who purchased the item. The Riot Control Baton was originally part of the Star Wars update back in December when it was featured in a purchasable bundle.
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For those that don't know, all players in-game are supposed to produce footsteps when walking and no item SHOULD be able to give players the ability to not produce any. This means that the bug, clips of which are being shared around the net, basically breaks the game. While the majority of players probably had the item enabled and had no nefarious purpose behind it, other players are using it to get cheap wins.
It's important to note that right now, Epic Games is just disabling the item, which means that, if certain players have it set as their harvesting tool, it'll now simply default to the original, standard pickaxe. Of course, nothing is stopping players from setting a different item as their harvesting tool, but they should be aware of that fact before they hop into a match.
Unfortunately, there's no telling when the item will be readded to people's accounts. It could be days, it could be weeks, or it could be months. Generally speaking, bugs like this are pretty easily fixed, however, given the fact that employees are working from home right now, it might be a bit longer before we'll see players running around the map with the item.
As been said many times, bugs are never fun, especially when they can ruin an entire game. Getting shot from behind after an enemy sneaks up on them without making a sound would probably make most people throw their controller in frustration.
While it's definitely understandable that people who purchased the bundle in the store all those months ago would be frustrated, having an item like that in the game just isn't acceptable. Here's hoping that the item makes a quick return.
Fortnite is available for free on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, PC, Nintendo Switch, and mobile devices.
Source: Fortnite Status/Twitter