10 things in Fortnite that definitely aren’t copying something else

Epic Games have been on the receiving end of highly-publicised law suits and tons of complaints about infringing copyright with some of the features they’ve added to Fortnite Battle Royale since the game was released, but we’ve got a list of things that we’re pretty sure haven’t been copied from someplace else. 

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Many people have tried to take legal action against the developer’s decision to add a variety of different content to the game’s battle royale mode, with most recent examples being Alfonso Ribeiro’s failed ‘Carlton Dance’ case and rapper 2 Milly arguing that the ‘Milly Rock’ dance shouldn’t be an emote.

While these law suits have proved unsuccessful at the time of writing, it’s not only emotes that people have accused Epic of stealing and the idea of suing them for their content is something the game’s online community has embraced as a meme – more than a genuine possibility. 

So, let’s take a look at our list of 10 things in Fortnite that definitely aren’t a copy of something else…

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Ark Skin

So, do we have any Overwatch fans in? They will know what we’re talking about here. 

This Ark skin sprung onto the scene on January 10, 2019 and it, shall we say, has a very familiar look. In fact, a very similar look to a hero from another game. Whether it’s the halo around the head, the wings or the main outfit itself, people think this is a copy of Mercy from Overwatch. 

Come on, though, they wouldn’t do that. 

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Ping system

The game’s map marker system just wasn’t up to scratch when it was first released, as things were too slow. Players had to go through the process of stopping, pulling their map out and marking somewhere for their team to see every time they changed route. 

Then, when Epic finally released a Apex Legends. Come on, that’s just ludicrous! 

Building feature

If you put all of the current battle royale games in front of you and look at the differences that set the better ones apart, PUBG excels with its slow pace, Call of Duty Blackout has merged the most popular shooting game in history with a brand new concept, but you can’t build in any of those games. 

Fortnite players can harvest materials from across the map and build fortresses. In fact, they even have a Creative mode now too that gives players unlimited items and materials to build whatever they want! 

“Did they steal these ideas from Minecraft?” Oh, don’t be silly. All original. 

Foraged Items 

Many fans like to engage with other members of the game’s online community on Reddit, and if you’re pretty active on the Fortnite BR page, you might well have seen the new Foraged Items before they were added by Epic Games. 

Well, what do we mean by that? Reddit user, AndrewIsCoolio, posted a concept on March 18 for Lazy Lagoon which included adding coconuts to the new location, which could be consumed by players and increase their health. 

Epic released the v8.20 patch on March 27 and there it was! The coconut, along with new bananas and peppers. Definitely not copied, though, for sure. 

Fresh emote

As we mentioned earlier, Alfonso Ribeiro failed in his law suit against Epic Games for allegedly stealing his ‘Carlton Dance’ from Fresh Prince of Bel-Air and renaming it as a ‘Fresh’ emote. But, that hasn’t stopped people taking sides in what become a very public showdown. 

Whether you think the dance was stolen, or inspired by Carlton Banks’ signature dance move from the show, we’ll leave this one for the judges. 

They don’t look anything alike!

Respawn Vans

There have been a lot of Fortnite leaks out there for people to see, some of which will wind up appearing in the game’s ‘coming soon’ feed and others that are completely fake. But, there’s one idea that keeps coming up and many fans believe will soon change the way the game is played – respawn vans.

There’s never been a respawn feature in Epic’s game, but with the popularity of Apex Legends to compete with – which does have it included – many people are expecting a copied version to appear in Fortnite in the near future. 

It had never been a topic of discussion before Apex, but will this be the next thing on the copy list?

Guiding Beam 

You may have noticed that placing a marker now leads to a huge beam of light appearing on your screens when playing Fortnite. It’s actually really useful. For example, if your team wants to drop at Sunny Steps and then move around to Lazy Lagoon, you can be guided towards those two markers with the light. 

Now, this might be a new feature for Fortnite players, but those who have dabbled into the world of Realm Royale will be all too familiar with the concept. 

Did they take it and make it their own? Who knows. 

Supply Drop

Have you ever been on a very popular shooter title where if you rack up a few kills, you can call in a supply drop? We have. It’s called Call of Duty, and they’re called care packages. 

Fortnite’s supply crate drops are one of the long-standing features of the game, as they’ve been in there since the very start, and give players the chance to collect a better weapon. 

We refrain from calling them an original feature, though, because the idea has been around for a long time. Definitely not copied, though. We’re pretty much certain. 

Battle Royale 

PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds was well-known as the leader of the battle royale market, with the key word being “was,” as Fortnite has since taken over with its incredible turnover of new content and its unrivalled cosmetics range. 

In the midst of that success, it was once argued by PUBG that Epic Games has stolen their idea to even venture into the world of battle royale. 

While there was never really a strong case for this, with the copyright lawsuit eventually being dropped – as reported by Bloomberg, there will still be some people that still believe Fortnite’s success has been built by copying the general idea for their title. 

Is that right? Well, we haven’t seen any Infinity Blades or Boom Boxes in the recent PUBG patches, if that’s anything to go by. Very different games. 

Pirate theme

We hate to say it, but we’re going to say it. The main theme for Fortnite’s Season 8 might look a tiny bit like they’ve just completely stolen Sea of Thieves and dumped it into a battle royale game mode. 

Detractors to those suggestions would point to the fact that Sea of Thieves is largely centered around the use of ships to travel, which is correct. Fortnite only has one ship. But, they do have a whole load of new pirate outposts – much like Rare’s game – as well as edible bananas, treasure maps, new cannons and, of course, the Flint-Knock pistol – all very similar stuff. 

In theory, what better way to crush a pirate game that was surging in popularity and prevent people from swinging away from Fortnite? Well, bring the pirate theme to their own game. 

Did it play out like that? It’s not for us to say. 

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If you have any suggestions for features that could be added to our list of Fortnite things that definitely haven’t been copied from elsewhere, tweet them over to us @Dexerto.