Shopping carts are arguably the most game changing, and definitely the most fun, addition to Fortnite in recent time. They are in essence the battle royale’s first vehicle and there’s something truly exhilarating about careening around with your squad. Yet, this week Epic Games have engaged in a strange rapid fire back and forth of first adding back the carts, only to remove them again hours later.
Check out the offending tweets below.
Due to a bug with the Shopping Cart, we’re temporarily disabling it until we have a fix. We’ll update you once the issue is resolved. ?️
Advertisement— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) June 17, 2018
Ramp up and roll down, Shopping Carts are back.https://t.co/DonAii5Us7
Video Credit: u/MarleyLo
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) June 20, 2018
Due to ongoing issues, we'll be disabling Shopping Carts again. We'll update you when this issue is resolved.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) June 20, 2018
The reason behind this is an exploit whereby players can effectively glitch under the island, then roam around downing unsuspecting enemies who’ve no inkling of where shots are coming from. Figuring out that by commandeering a shopping cart, then immediately building a pyramid above them, cunning players found themselves underneath the map. The exploit is shockingly simple to perform. YouTube is overflowing with how-to videos and clips showcasing subterranean feats. Underneath the Fortnite map, loot is accessible and weapons function as normal so players have made the most their concealed position to mess around with their opponents.
With this in mind, it comes as no surprise Epic Games have opted to remove the offending item to allow enough time to patch the exploit given its wide reaching implications on how the game is played. However, more bewildering is the quick one-two of this week, implying the developers were unsuccessful in their attempts to correct the glitch.
Understandably, only so much can be brute forced and tested by a QA team in a short space of time, and the size of the Fortnite community presupposes an army of willing tinkerers with hours to waste on finding novel ways to surreptitiously abuse the cart. Though, what satisfaction is to be gained from winning a match in this fashion is beyond me. Surely the challenge is the appeal here.
Epic are sure to invest the required resources in an attempt to plug this access to the underworld. Although removing the cart altogether is surely on the cards, but doing so would sentence an exciting facet of the all-too-often formulaic Fortnite match format to a sad end.
And this, boys and girls, is why we can’t have nice things.
