That didn’t last long now did it? The most recent viral hit on Fortnite, this casual Squid Game map, got the platform-level nuclear treatment by a DMCA bomb from Netflix. Honestly: the whole thing is just weird.
The map, riding on the hype of Squid Game, somehow went straight to the top of Fortnite’s Discover section in almost no time. You’re talking about the kind of hype where some 70,000 players tempted in at the same time. But the kicker is that Netflix said no. Within hours, the map was gone, leaving confused players in its wake.
What really happened? Dozens of reports, testimonials, and/or replies in Twitter say that it was not just inspired by the Squid Game—it straight-up went on to use the official name, logo, and music from the show. Big mistake. Huge. Netflix is not known to be playing nice when it comes to copyrights this time either. Meanwhile, HYPEX replied, “They played with fire when they used the official name, logo & songs 😭.” Yeah, no kidding.
Things started to get a little messy because there were some players who genuinely thought that Fortnite and Squid Game were collaborating. I mean, can you even blame them when the map was plastered all over the top? Another comment made by delayedisback1 reiterates the confusion: “People most likely thought it was the actual Squid Game collab.” And hey, with the quality of the map, it’s hard to blame them.
Now, the confusion continued on. Some replies just expressed bewilderment, like Avery McCarrick who wrote: “I’m so confused… this was an official collaboration within Fortnite… why is this now a problem?” While others were just mad about losing their new favorite game mode. “Damn I was having fun,” Jorra lamented. Same, dude. Same.
But some saw this coming. They even called out the creators for pushing their luck. “They just mad because no one liked or gave a fuck about the collab in BO6 haha,” DukePureEgg riffed. Ouch. Then there came the inevitable suggestion from Sophia Z.: “should’ve named it Octopus Games 🐙🎮,” which… honestly? Solid backup plan.
Now, the real question is, what happens next? Players like Frandiii hold out for that official collab: “Once the collaboration is released, the map can be republished and even better maps will be created.” That tracks, honestly. Epic’s no stranger to massive IP crossovers, so an actual Squid Game would not be far-fetched.
In the meantime, though? The unofficial is gone. Some players mourn its death (RIP to the best Squid Game map Fortnite ever had), while others are already looking towards the future. “I know a lot of them are going to be ‘Squid Game Guards vs. Players’ and ‘Squid Game – Gun Game One Shot’,” Shane predicted. And yeah, sounds about right.
At the end of the day, this entire thing serves as a reminder that copyright law waits for no-one, not even a viral Fortnite map. So if you missed out on this one, don’t sweat it, because, knowing Fortnite, what’s crazier is probably just around the corner.
