Fortnite players are no strangers to game-breaking glitches, but that doesn't mean the discovery of a new one isn't incredibly frustrating. Players are reporting a glitch where killing a player with a Chinese character in their username can lead to the game freezing, or in some cases, even crashing.
Since its release in 2017, Fortnite has become one of the most popular games in the world, with millions of monthly players. This sheer mass of players means that most of Fortnite's glitches are quickly discovered, however this glitch seems to have mostly flown under the radar.
But a popular post on the competitive Fortnite subreddit has brought new attention to this glitch. A video shows how when a player with a Chinese character in their username is killed, Fortnite freezes up for a moment. While the video only show's the freeze lasting for about half a second, users in the comments mention having their whole game crash because of this glitch. So while it's not as flashy as the glitch that lets players exist as smoke, it's certainly still a major issue.
Dying or Killing someone with a Chinese letter in their name can cause your game to hitch/freeze from FortniteCompetitive
Even if the glitch only causes Fortnite to stutter, those few frames can be incredibly important. This is especially true in team fights, or if another player shows up after a fight to finish someone off. And if that player has a better gun, those frames could mean the difference between life and death.
So far, it doesn't appear that players have been intentionally abusing this glitch. Much like the Battle Bus glitch, having a Chinese character in one's name doesn't actually help that player win the game. Sure, it could be used to spite anyone who kills that player, but that's still much less impactful than some of the other exploits that players have discovered.
That being said, it would still behoove Epic Games to patch this glitch out of Fortnite as soon as possible. Fornite is a global phenomenon, and there are many players who are Chinese or of Chinese descent, who may be unknowingly abusing this glitch with their usernames.
Fortnite is out now for iOS, Android, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One, with PS5 and Xbox Series X versions also in development.