Well, that was quick. Epic Games has announced that the Infinity Blade will no longer be available in “Fortnite.”
What’s going on: Epic Games revealed in a tweet that the controversial mythic weapon will be removed from the uber-popular “Fortnite” after receiving widespread criticism about how the weapon impacts the game.
“We messed up and rolled out the Infinity Blade overpowered / without good counters, especially in the end game,” the company said.
“The Infinity Blade has been Vaulted and we are re-evaluating our approach to Mythic items. Thanks for calling us out on this!”
Epic released the weapon earlier in the week, hyping it up with a teaser video alongside the rollout of the seventh season of “Fortnite.”
Powerful weapon: The weapon was extremely powerful. As I reported, the sword revived the wielder’s health to full strength and allowed the carrier to destroy opponents’ building structures. The weapon often led to quick kills in the game, too
Critics said the weapon became too strong at the end of games.
“But overall, players, including pros who used the sword to handily win games, were furious that such a powerful item had been dropped into a highly competitive game — one with grand e-sports ambitions, no less — with little to no foresight as to how it might drastically alter the game and its e-sports landscape. Now, that backlash appears to have prompted a more definitive action.
Why it matters: Epic Games’ decision to drop the weapon has a purpose, according to The Verge.
“Casual players won’t keep coming back to ‘Fortnite’ every day (and spending money on emotes and skins) if they can never win a game or constantly get out-skilled by seasoned players, or if there’s not something fresh to check out to keep the experience interesting,” according to The Verge.
