Fortnite players slam devs for relying on “boring” TikTok emotes
Epic Games Fortnite Dance emotes featuring songs that are trending on TikTok have become commonplace in the battle royale. But this has left some players annoyed, labeling Epic as “creatively bankrupt.”
Fortnite has established itself as the ultimate destination for crossovers and a melting pot for all forms of pop culture. The battle royale title regularly receives in-game events or cosmetic skins that are created in collaboration with the most popular IPs and figures across movies, video games, music, and more.
This means that your average lobby can look like a page ripped straight out of crossover fanfiction, with players donning the skins of Kratos, Solid Snake, Peter Griffin, and Travis Scott to name a few.
Fortnite also banks on TikTok trends by adding popular songs and the dances they’re associated with in the game. These usually show up as part of Icon Series Emotes and can be purchased from the Item Shop. There are tons of examples of these emotes, with prominent ones being the Griddy and Gangnam Style.
While these emotes are normally adored by many players, some are beginning to grow tired of them. A Reddit post by user ‘Rattiom32’ sparked a discussion on the topic. Titled “Why is every new emote a TikTok sound now? I hate it, actually creatively bankrupt”, it criticized the abundance of TikTok-related emotes in the game.
The post also featured a brief clip showing off the recently added ‘Me & You’ emote in Fortnite. Its inclusion seemed to exhibit the OP’s complaint, as the emote is just a short instrumental with the character simply strumming a guitar.
Users in the comment section replied by expressing their own disappointment with the emote, “I bought this thinking the other member would sing wtf is this epic just the instrumental on a short loop”.
Other users slammed Epic Games for not coming up with original emotes, “TikTok has been a source for the vast majority of icon emotes, but it’s been getting worse now. It’s either a boring emote or high-pitched chipmunking. Or both”.
Some even branded Epic as “creatively bankrupt,” as one user said, “They’ve been creatively bankrupt ever since Epic focused on having so many events being crossovers and abandoning their original style for the game”.
A section of players are tired of TikTok trends finding their way into Fortnite as emotes. While this likely won’t change anytime soon, it remains to be seen whether the game receives more original ones.
For more on Fortnite, check out check out how to use Survivor Medallions in Fortnite, and how to complete all Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 1 Week 9 challenges.