Fortnite is about to get a whole lot more aerial following Epic’s announcement today that jet packs are finally here. Yesterday’s tweet explains that jetpacks will feature as part of the 4.2 content update scheduled for today at 8 am ET, 12 am GMT, and 8 pm HKT. The update will roll out with no downtime so players can get jetting immediately.
Strap in and blast off with Jetpacks in the v4.2 Content Update. ?
AdvertisementAvailable tomorrow, May 22 at 8am ET (1200 GMT). No downtime.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) May 21, 2018
Word of jetpacks surfaced back in late February with the in-game client’s update screen stating ‘Jetpacks (Coming Soon) – Take the fight to all new heights’. Unfortunately, ‘coming soon’ was to be taken as a rather vague statement. In early March, Epic revealed that jetpacks were delayed due to design issues that needed rectifying. Given the near three month gap, the issues must have been pretty severe to warrant such a delay. We just hope this means jetpacks are expected to affect the game enough to warrant such attention from Epic.
If you boot up Fortnite right now, the jetpack blurb is back, but includes a line about the inclusion only being temporary, ‘Limited time item’. Presumably this is to gauge the jetpack’s impact in a controlled setting, then make adjustments for long term inclusion later on.
Qualifying the jetpack as an item is peculiar in itself if we consider in-game data extracted by miners earlier this month. The info suggested a limited time mode was on its way with the following blurb: ‘Close Encounters – Close quarter combat with shotguns and jetpacks! If you find a jetpack, double-tap the jump button to take off. Keep the button held down to apply thrust. Make sure to land before it runs out of fuel!’ Items tend to become constant features while LMT are fleeting bits of fun.
Regardless, the fact that jetpacks are available from today is titillating enough. Expect social media and reddit to blow up with clips and airborne feats.
