Ninja explains why Fortnite’s explosive buff wasn’t all bad

Epic Games’ decision to revert the changes made to explosives in Fortnite Battle Royale might be one of the most popular that they’ve ever made, but some players saw an upside to the buff.

The update to explosives allowed 25% of explosive damage to ‘penetrate through structures and the environment’ and it received a large amount of criticism from the Fortnite community, particularly professional players. 

Clips, Reddit posts and Twitter rants about the buff took over the internet soon after the v6.21 patch went live, and Epic Games eventually announced that they would be releasing a hotfix to revert it entirely.

However, Ninja played devil’s advocate during a Twitch stream after the buff originally went live, saying: “How annoying is it when somebody is just sitting there in a one-by-one? Literally in a one-by-one only.”

Ninja clearly believed that the changes to explosives would stop players from ‘turtling up’ as often and that it would reward more skillful players: “The only time a good player turtles up like that is when he’s been sniped or when you’ve got a bunch of damage on him.

“So it’s like, now that actually just applies that pressure for them to actually, you know, do something.”

• Read More: Five vaulted Fortnite weapons or items that we want to see back in the game

While the Ninja’s opinion might not have fallen in line with the general consensus of the community, it seems likely that Epic Games were thinking along the same lines when they put the buff into effect.

Fortnite’s developers may have decided to revert the changes entirely as a result of the community’s feedback, but Ninja’s statements make it clear the end goal of reducing the ‘hide in a one-by-one’ meta is one that should be pursued.