Epic Games drew inspiration from the game mode “Steal the Brainrot” in Fortnite from the gaming platform Roblox. The success of the game mode is based on an internet phenomenon.
What is “Steal the Brainrot” in Fortnite? “Steal the Brainrot” is a game mode in Fortnite that is very popular among players. It originated from the game Roblox under the name “Steal a Brainrot” and was created by a user in May 2025. In Roblox, the game was very popular with over 24 million concurrent players in September (source: X).
Soon after, Epic Games licensed the title “Steal the Brainrot” and released its own game mode under that name. One of the creators is the content creator FeRinS.
Players were also excited about the mode in Fortnite. According to fortnite.gg, over 540,000 players played simultaneously at times. YouTube content related to “Steal the Brainrot” is also being clicked a lot, such as the video by the YouTuber More SypherPK with nearly 2 million views.
What is “Steal the Brainrot” about? The gameplay is relatively simple: each player possesses the so-called “Brainrots,” which generate income for the player over time. The goal is to obtain better and rarer Brainrots.
They can either be purchased or stolen from other players, as the name of the mode suggests. At the same time, of course, players must protect their own Brainrots from theft. There are repeatedly live events where participants can receive rare Brainrots, or codes that can be redeemed at terminals.
Outburst over stolen Brainrots and other reactions
What does the community say about the game mode? In a Reddit post in the subreddit r/FortNiteBR with over 4,200 upvotes, “Steal the Brainrot” is criticized. The subject of the post is a tweet from the official Fortnite account congratulating the creator of the game mode.
The author of the Reddit post writes: “This post alone, along with all the events of recent times surrounding the topic of ‘Steal a Brainrot’, is an alarming wake-up call that needs to be discussed more. They promote AI junk and copied creative maps more than their own [Battle Royale] BR season.”
In the comments, the topic is discussed lively:
- The user yellow_slash_red sees no danger for the Battle Royale mode (source: Reddit): “It is very likely that it is just a lot of kids playing it. I doubt that a creative map will bury Battle Royale.”
- LaylaLegion sees the problem elsewhere (source: Reddit): “They promote what the player base plays. This is not Epic’s problem. It is a community problem.”
- Clean_Security2194 does not seem to like the game mode (source: Reddit): “I really hate seeing copies of Roblox games in Fortnite, especially games that required no effort in development anyway.”
There are also numerous videos on the internet showing young children playing “Steal A Brainrot” from Roblox. They start to cry or scream when their Brainrots are stolen in the game. A clip on Reddit shows, for example, a screaming child whose Brainrot was just stolen.
The internet phenomenon “Brainrot”
What lies behind the popular game mode? The term “Brainrot” refers to the alleged negative effects of internet usage and has been part of internet culture for some time, especially attributed to the younger generation.
It is a newly created linguistic expression that describes the supposed negative effects of internet usage. It is not about the general use of social media but rather about the excessive consumption of “inferior content” that allegedly leads to poorer brain performance (source: nytimes.com and wdr.de).
These can be videos that make no real sense. For example, a cat that spins and makes techno-like noises. AI-generated content, such as from Twitch streamers like Papaplatte, can also be included.
You can get an impression of “German Brainrot” in this YouTube video where a critic from the magazine ZEIT tries to categorize the shown videos:
“Italian Brainrot” is also widespread, so to speak, the Italian variant of Brainrot. AI-generated “creatures” are created, usually combining an animal and an object, such as “Bombardiro Crocodilo,” a crocodile combined with a fighter plane, or “Tralalero Tralala,” which is supposed to represent a shark with sneakers.
The origin and the platform where this content mostly occurs is TikTok. Many short videos are created with these characters. However, many of these contents can also be found on YouTube Shorts.
The characters from “Italian Brainrot” have been celebrated by so many users on the internet that they have developed into a kind of internet phenomenon and have eventually made their way into other media, in this case, video games.
What do you think of the game mode in Fortnite? Share your opinion with us in the comments! Those who build maps for the game in Fortnite are even paid by Epic Games, but in the case of 2 players, it seems that things did not go right: Epic Games pays diligent fans in Fortnite for their maps, but now 2 players are being sued for alleged fraud
