Fortnite features a war theme in Chapter 3 Season 2. Given the war in Ukraine, the setting feels quite inappropriate right now. However, to avoid a looming PR disaster, Epic has come up with a simple and effective solution. Read everything about the story here on MeinMMO.
What is the problem with the theme of Season 2? In Chapter 3 Season 2 of Fortnite, there is a full-blown war. The nefarious organization “IO” invades the island with dark airships, tanks, and faceless troops, and even disables building.
Even the first scenes of the trailer, where menacing tanks roll through the vibrant vegetation, surely wouldn’t have raised much concern a few weeks ago. War and tanks have been a theme in countless shooters.
However, in light of the current war raging in Ukraine, images of invading troops and tanks now seem extremely inappropriate.
Additionally, there is the overall optics of the theme, as the dark forces of the invaders face a mismatched group of well-known Fortnite skins, who use various tricks and improvised weapons to fight the military might of the attackers.
This also unpleasantly reminds one of the resistance currently being offered to Russian troops in Ukraine by civilians and militias. Thus, the entire theme of Season 2 is quite controversial.
Epic’s solution is a large-scale donation of revenues
Why is Epic addressing this theme right now? The theme of Season 2 in Chapter 3 of Fortnite is supposed to represent the climax of the story about the conflict with the IO and the “Seven”. Thus, it was planned long in advance, when hardly anyone could have foreseen a war within Europe between Ukraine and Russia.
Therefore, Epic would have had to change and rewrite the entire theme in just a few weeks, which would have likely been difficult to implement in such a short time. They decided to start the season with minor changes and avoid the PR nightmare with a simple trick.
What is Epic doing to ease the situation? First of all, they wisely refrained from announcing the season with its war setting in a big way. Thus, the season started rather abruptly on March 20, 2022.
Furthermore, the title was changed from “Reality War” to “Resistance.” The apparently planned slogan “War is Coming!” was also wisely scrapped.
But despite such cosmetic changes, the setting is still a war with tanks, and players quickly noticed this on reddit. One user wrote:
Jokes aside, I truly feel bad for the Fortnite development team, as they plan seasons almost a year in advance. And when the time finally comes, Eastern Europe is on fire and innocent people are being bombed.
User “ILiterallyExist” on reddit
Simultaneously with the start of Season 2, an official announcement from Epic Games was released. It stated that Epic Games intends to donate all revenue earned in the next two weeks to charities operating in Ukraine.
– Ukraine Live Blog (via Zeit)
– War against Ukraine (via Tagesschau)
– Solidarity with Ukraine (via Federal Foreign Office)
Important Note: If you are troubled by dark thoughts due to the current situation: You are not alone. Please seek help. For example, you can contact the telephone counseling service at 0800/111 0 111 or the online counseling, where you can also use a chat. It is free of charge and nationally applicable.
This indeed covers all in-game microtransactions during a time when a large number of players typically spend money. Microsoft is also joining the initiative and plans to donate its net revenues from Fortnite on Xbox as well. The whole initiative is intended to last until April 3rd.
Since Epic regularly makes a lot of money from new seasons, a significant amount of funds is likely to be raised here.
Also worth reading: Here’s how the upcoming MMO Corepunk is continuing its development despite the war.
Simultaneously with the start of Season 2, an official announcement from Epic Games was released. It stated that Epic Games intends to donate all revenue earned in the next two weeks to charities operating in Ukraine.
– Ukraine Live Blog (via Zeit)
– War against Ukraine (via Tagesschau)
– Solidarity with Ukraine (via Federal Foreign Office)
Important Note: If you are troubled by dark thoughts due to the current situation: You are not alone. Please seek help. For example, you can contact the telephone counseling service at 0800/111 0 111 or the online counseling, where you can also use a chat. It is free of charge and nationally applicable.
This indeed covers all in-game microtransactions during a time when a large number of players typically spend money. Microsoft is also joining the initiative and plans to donate its net revenues from Fortnite on Xbox as well. The whole initiative is intended to last until April 3rd.
Since Epic regularly makes a lot of money from new seasons, a significant amount of funds is likely to be raised here.
Also worth reading: Here’s how the upcoming MMO Corepunk is continuing its development despite the war.
Your opinion is important to us!
Do you like the article? Then let us know!