Presently, Epic Games has come against the developers of UEFN alleging the use of bots to artificially raise player numbers for Fortnite Creative islands. In another sudden move with one of the harshest reactions to creator fraud, the islands got removed, and the developers were banned outright from Fortnite.
So yeah, the parent company of Fortnite, Epic Games, dropped the hammer on a bunch of shady UEFN developers. Two creators are being sued by them for the use of bots to fake their player numbers. Now this is far from giving them a slap on the wrist; their islands have been deleted, and a full ban from Fortnite has been imposed on them. Checks for that form of behavior are pretty heavy.
If you didn’t already know, UEFN stands for Unreal Editor for Fortnite; that’s what creators use to make those custom islands and game modes that have been appearing everywhere. Evidently, some people have decided to gain through bot programming by making their maps look more popular than they actually are. Why would they do such a thing? The payout to a creator depends on engagement and player counts; essentially, this means that more players equal more money through Epic’s creator payout program. So, in that regard, these folks committing fraud for a greater share of the payout.
Reactions from the players have… been interesting, to say the least. User @OmegaDaCrownGod instantaneously asked, “now I wanna know who it was that got busted,” and honestly, same. Who are those two developers trying to get away with this? That mystery is killing me.
And here starts the mess. Players just started calling Epic out for being hypocritical. User @xCrimzXn says, “They do that themselves with BR. The hypocrisy is nuts,” referring to the fact that Fortnite injects bots into Battle Royale matches. And @ViceXXII is more blunt: “Ban yourself for botting Battle Royale lmao.”
So they’re mad because Fortnite itself uses bots for normal matches but is suing creators for the same? Now, here’s what is claimed to be the difference by the commenters: User @D1____6 put it plainly, “Bots in BR do not count as players, while creative maps do inflate the numbers and get paid more.” The bots Epic adds to Battle Royale are there just to fill out lobbies and don’t interfere with creator payouts, whereas the bots joining creative islands are directly inflating numbers that determine how much money the creators make.
Another user @Aryss_SkaHara provided an even deeper explanation: “Server bots in these modes are not included in player counts and do not affect UEFN payout shares. Inflating island player count with external bots does affect its UEFN payouts, making it a fraud. No double standards.” So there you have it: Epic’s bots are part of game design philosophy; creator bots are straight-up fraud.
This whole thing that started actually launched a bigger argument regarding cheating in all games. User @dezall206 bluntly said, “It’s crazy how many people cheat, lie, and steal in this world to get ahead.” And he’s right; we’ve seen those kinds of instances before in other games, where people try to manipulate for monetary gain.
Some players are curious if this is related to other shenanigans presently happening in Fortnite. User @andrewt2525 speculated, “You wonder if @TypicalGamer isn’t getting an iron skin because he’s getting sued for his map.” Which is… honestly, that would be wild if true, but probably not related? But at least it shows how suspicious the players are getting about this whole creator ecosystem.
Given how quick Epic was on this, it is quite interesting. They did not just quietly ban those developers. Taking them to court sends a pretty clear message to other creators who might be thinking about these schemes. Epic is watching, and they are not playing games when it comes to messers with their payout system.
There is also an interesting timing angle to this whole ordeal: it followed closely on the heels of Roblox having similar problems. User @Scif0v pointed out that “botting is never resolved in roblox,” suggesting Epic might be trying to position themselves as the better platform for creators by actually enforcing their rules properly.
So then, what does this really mean on the average day for a Fortnite player? Maybe not too much directly-their games would just keep running the same. What it absolutely does do is show in no uncertain terms that Epic is committed to maintaining at least a modicum of fairness within the creator ecosystem. Creators who make maps in UEFN would surely be warned—don’t try to cheat the system or you may well get caught, and the penalties will not be pleasant.
The particular situation opens up the much bigger questions about how gaming platforms and their creator economies engage in the fight against fraud. As more games take up the user-generated content line with the creator payout programs, we are going to be seeing a lot more similar cases in the future: Fortnite is just the very first major battleground for this type of digital fraud.
And look, it is always encouraging to see Epic stand against those trying to scam the system. The creator economy only works if everyone agrees to play by the rules, and these lawsuits will ensure that the creators who make some really decent content get rewarded for their work rather than getting bled dry by unscrupulous entities. Still holding wondering who those two developers were-a cup of tea that is just boiling over and ready to be spilled.
This situation also highlights the ongoing competition between major gaming platforms like PlayStation and Xbox in the creator space.
