Fortnite Creative 2.0 content policy spells end for Mario Kart and Call of Duty maps
Unreal Engine for Fortnite offers creative players near limitless potential with custom map making, but Epic Games is banning players from recreating the intellectual property of others in Creative 2.0.
On March 22, Epic Games released Unreal Engine for Fortnite, a new suite of tools that allows players to create custom maps like never before. And alongside its launch, players were provided with a few experiences showing off the capabilities of UEFN.
These sparked the imagination of creative players, and with the ability to upload models directly into UEFN, players got to work bringing their favorite games to life inside Fortnite. Within 24 hours, players recreated Rust from CoD: Modern Warfare 2 and Toad Harbor from Mario Kart.
However, Epic Games was quick to warn players that their actions could result in permanent bans. This follows the announcement that players creating the OG Fortnite map can’t profit from their recreation.
Epic Games warns Fortnite Creative 2.0 players
The blog post titled “Reminder of Fortnite’s content policies and enforcement” did just that. With the hype surrounding Creative 2.0 and players showing off their remakes, Epic Games used the blog to steer players away from infringing on copyrighted materials.
“All content in Fortnite must adhere to Fortnite’s game rating, Fortnite Island Creator Rules and intellectual property and DMCA guidelines,” EG wrote, “Those who create violating content in UEFN – even if they never intend to publish it in Fortnite – or share violating content on social media, will face content takedowns and enforcement actions, up to and including permanent account bans.”
This second statement was the one that took players by surprise. Even if a player does not intend to publish a map, Epic Games has made it clear that they can still have their account banned if they use assets from someone else’s intellectual property.
Lucas7yoshi – creator of the Mario Kart track above – has already stated they won’t publish the map for “obvious reasons.” However, according to Epic Games, that may not be enough to keep them safe.
Lucas stated in a separate post, “Contemplating if I should delete the nondescript Italian plumber cart stuff, but it’s been republished and viewed elsewhere more than my own post, so it’s not like it’d do anything.”
And again, according to the blog post, even sharing the violation on social media without publishing the map is enough for them to enforce consequences. Meaning even if players can recreate their favorite games inside of Unreal Engine for Fortnite, they can’t even share their concepts on social media for fear of receiving a permanent ban.