Originally conceived as a way to even the playing field for those with low end rigs, the new mode allows Fortnite players on PC to sacrifice detail to achieve a faster and more stable frame rate. Unfortunately though, doing this seems to have some unforeseen side effects which are now giving those who use the mode a huge edge over everybody else.
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In a recent post on Reddit, u/EzBugatti99 compared two screen grabs from the game which highlight the extent to which the performance mode in Fortnite can impact the experience. They show the impact that The Storm has on visibility with the mode turned on and off and the difference is night and day. Without performance mode, it’s difficult to make out the playable character, let alone her surrounding environment. Once switched on though, visibility is near perfect, with only the faintest pink hue on screen.
Naturally, many players were not too happy upon learning about the differences and used the Reddit thread to express their frustrations. Some called for Epic to add performance mode to console editions in order to even the playing field, while others suggested disabling the mode until a fix has been found. One of Epic’s community liaison team did acknowledge the issue a few hours after the thread was posted and vowed to raise it with the development team. As some pointed out though, the issue has been flagged as an active bug on Fortnite’s Trello board for more than five days now with no resolution in sight.
This is not the first time that Fortnite’s storm mechanic has caused controversy either. At the end of last year, an oversight was discovered which allowed players to use the Zero Point at the center of the map to repeatedly restore their health; effectively allowing them to stay inside the storm forever. Epic patched that one pretty quickly, and players will be hoping that the developer does so again this time around.
Fortnite is free-to-play on PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X/S.
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