Well, that being said, the countdown has started. The community has been spoiled with pre-update chaos again—just the right mix of hype and impatience mixed with the usual dose of gamer cynicism, all thanks to the trustworthy leaker ShiinaBR‘s message that Fortnite‘s yearly Winterfest update would be yesterday and the community is jumping to the old pre-update frenzy—pure hype, impatience, and of course the classic gamer cynicism.
To refresh your memory a little, Winterfest is the biggest of all Fortnite festivities. It assures free presents, holiday-themed cosmetics, new modes available for a short time, and the whole island looking snowy and cheerful. It is a main event. However, this year the timing of the event has resulted in some negative publicity from the community to Epic Games. Christmas is practically over, isn’t it? So, the main question asked in the replies is, why do the developers choose to schedule their major holiday event so late?
The player’s response is a… to sum it up in one word, a total mood. Among the thrilled ones we have EthanWeldz, who cannot wait for the new stuff, and BidoofPrincess, who is just screaming ‘Finally! I am so excited!’ The impatient people are also present like gabr1elawesome who is saying ‘BUT I NEED IT NOW!’ and Sawyer who is already on day one of asking for a reindeer side pet. A timeless situation.
Nevertheless, the discontent train, unusually, arrived at the station very early this time around. The user skitzuhfrenia did not take long to label it ‘worst winterfest’ even before it started. Leroy 🥀 (0fficialTs) implied it, saying ‘Just for it to be mid,’ and leahspv concurred with her pronouncement, ‘wtf this is the worst winterfest.’ Even luan_w_ confronted ShiinaBR, accusing him of tweeting ‘pointless bullshit that everyone knows’ directly. Unkind, but that is, you know, Twitter.
On the other hand, the actual drama arose in a rather odd thread. The user lazarus_wolf started to reply almost all negative comments with these sarcastic, over-the-top GIFs that were practically ridiculing the people judging the event before it even started. It turned into this back-and-forth with the users skitzuhfrenia and sniperifle360 that became rather confused and off-topic—something like ‘a woman defending women’s safety’? Wait, what was I talking about? Oh, Winterfest. Anyway, that tells us the community is already divided and the update is still not live.
Besides the drama, players are trying to guess the content, Oddo is shouting for ‘that hamster skin’ its official name, and Nathan and Nova_CanonPlayz are both making a wish that the rumored Winter Miku skin will be a free reward. Punto Z3RO even shared a leaked picture, which looks like a mannequin recolor, thus supporting the speculation further. And we don’t want to forget MGRaidenEnjoyer, for he is the one asking about Metal Gear Solid wave 2 collabs instead. Priorities!
However, not all gamers, like discovenus_, are quite pleased with the downtime or the update timing as the perfect opportunity to grind other games such as Outlast Trials and Phasmophobia on their PlayStation or Xbox. So I guess not everyone is hooked to Fortnite all day every day. Not that it is a surprise.
So what does the late drop indicate? Is Epic Games, as pozzaapp insinuated, really slacking? Or is this a clever strategy just to keep the interest alive during the post-Christmas lull? It is probably a little bit of both. Fortnite’s live service model is all about constantly attracting and retaining players, and even a delayed huge festive event is a surefire way to get players logging back in. The lure of free goodies is a super powerful force.
There is no question that many people are very much hyped up. Deez Miku Nuts (HatsuneMiku4T) is ‘SO EXITED’ and DrOfficially is saying ‘in 36hrs we g0.’ It is a tradition for the crowd to get excited over new cosmetics and the classic Winterfest cabin with its daily presents. However, this year, the general atmosphere of skepticism is louder than ever. Players have trusted the devs, but organizing a Christmas event after Christmas is a risky thing that has already begun to irk some of the players.
We’ll just have to wait and see what Epic decides to deliver. Will it be a mountain of cool, free stuff that makes everyone forget about the timing? Or will it be a validation of the ‘worst winterfest’ crowd’s fears and feel like an afterthought?
