Fortnite Junk Rift item disabled across all game modes

Epic Games announced on the official Fortnite Twitter account that it would be removing the Junk Rift item from all modes temporarily on August 25.

The junk rift item was first released in patch v10.10, and like the B.R.U.T.E Mech, was quickly derided by competitive players who argued that it fundamentally compromised the game.

The way the item works is that it is thrown and a rift opens up over your enemy, dropping a random object on them. On August 25, Epic announced that it would be disabling the item across all games modes because of an issue.

Junk Rift is temporarily disabled

Seemingly out of the blue, the official Fortnite Twitter account updated players and said it would be removing the Junk Rift item from all modes due to an “issue” in game. 

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“Due to an issue with Junk Rifts, we’ve temporarily disabled them in all game modes. We’ll provide an update when we have more information.” the tweet read.

Junk Rift had already been disabled in Arena playlists on August 22 due to audio issues and the announcement was quickly met with praise from pro Fortnite players such as Team Liquid’s Ryan ‘Chap’ Chaplo who praised the item’s removal. 

“+1 for removing Junk Rift from arena  -1 for keeping the terrible vehicle in the game” he tweeted, before realizing that it was only temporary.

Competitive players hate the Junk Rift

Season X of Fortnite has so far proven to be its most controversial, due to the backlash received from players and the competitive scene over the addition the B.R.U.T.E. Mech and Junk Rift item. 

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Fortnite World Cup winner Kyle ‘Bugha’ Giersdorf took to Twitter on August 20 to urge Epic to “remove the junk rift” as he and other pro players were not a fan of the item.

Those who hate the Junk Rift will need to get in as much play time as they can while it’s disabled, as it seems that the controversial will be making its way back as soon as they fix the “issues” with it.