Epic details expanded efforts to stop cheating in Fortnite

Cheaters can make or break an experience like Fortnite. The game is always-online, so anyone out there stirring up trouble in a game can end up ruining the experience for countless other players. Epic has always taken cheating seriously, but now they're going even harder in the new year. Check out full details on their expanded efforts to shut cheaters down below.

Throughout 2019, our competitive and anti-cheat teams worked together to remove players from tournaments and Arena who broke our Competitive Code of Conduct or any other official rules pertaining to Fortnite competitions. Our primary goal is to support competition that is fun, inclusive, and in line with the overall spirit of Fortnite. Unsportsmanlike conduct from participants is not within that spirit, and will not be tolerated in Fortnite competition.

2020 COMPETITIVE INTEGRITY

For 2020 and beyond, our team will continue to monitor competitive play in all regions and will take action against unfair play if necessary. With this new year of Fortnite competition, we wanted to highlight a specific rule and provide clarification on what we will be actioning on moving forward:

Competitive Fortnite’s Collusion Rule:

Players may not work together to deceive or otherwise cheat other players during any match (“Collusion”). Examples of Collusion include the following:

Teaming: Players working together during the match while on opposing teams.

Planned Movement: Agreement between 2 or more opposing players to land at specific locations or to move through the map in a planned way before the match begins.

Communication: Sending or receiving signals (both verbal and non-verbal) to communicate with opposing players.

Item Dumping: Intentionally dropping items for an opposing player to collect.

Throughout last year, players have been sending or receiving signals more commonly during official Fortnite competitions to the point where many players are confused around the ruling.

For 2020 (starting 1/20/20), we are taking action against any kind of in-game communication between opponents via signaling in official tournament matches. This includes, but is not limited to:

Pick-axe swinging
Emoting
Toy tossing
Jumping

Any cases of signaling like those listed above will now result in a teaming/collusion penalty. We want to be explicitly clear that pacifism-style gameplay is still allowed, but if signaling is involved, we will review and take appropriate action for the teaming/collusion penalty. Repeat offenders may be subject to increased penalties.

IF YOU SEE SOMETHING, SAY SOMETHING

Remember, if you do have a competitive integrity issue that you’d like to report please contact us through our player support team. They’ll help to make sure that your inquiry will end up in the right place.

You can also report players in-game for cheating, exploitation, harassment, and more. Your reports are instrumental in helping us identify potential bad folks quickly - we appreciate you taking the time to submit those reports.