SypherPK explains why Fortnite’s pre-editing changes missed the mark

Andrew Amos
Fortnite pre-editing changes with SypherPK

Ali ‘SypherPK’ Hassan was a big leader of the Fortnite pre-edit changes movement, trying to get Epic to change the mechanic. While they did follow through, the update wasn’t “what people were asking for,” according to the YouTube star, and more changes are needed.

Pre-editing has been a contentious issue in Fortnite for some time. The setting has stunted players’ ability to build by the game saving where you were at, instead of giving you a clean slate.

When you edit fast enough too, the game glitches out.

Builds will sometimes not reset when prompted, and you can put yourself in a dangerous position by trying to fix things. The feature has long angered the community, especially top players, for restricting their creativity.

Fortnite player editing build
Pre-edits have been the bane of Fortnite players across the world.

SypherPK has been calling for its removal for over two years now. The YouTube star was elated when Epic finally announced changes on December 15. However, a week on, and Hassan believes they missed the mark entirely, and more needs to be done.

“What Epic did was give us this setting ⁠— reset edits when entering build mode. So when you have this on… as soon as I swap out of build mode, it resets automatically [to a default build],” he said.

“That kinda helps a little bit, but that’s really not what people were asking for and that’s really not what people understood from the patch notes.”

There’s a reason why pre-editing can be downright horrible. While it affects every player, those with worse setups or higher ping struggle more. Same for those on controller, who have a little bit less control and flexibility. The changes are better, but not what they could be.

“Pre-editing for higher ping players can be especially problematic. It can cause you to miss edits you would usually make, or accidentally pre-edit your builds. At least now if you pre-edit it automatically resets,” he admitted.

He gave Epic exactly what players want ⁠— to just remove the option. Adding a toggle to remove pre-edits completely is what Sypher wants, and the community agrees with him.

“I want to make this constructive. I know there’s a lot of feedback from competitive players who were really excited about this change and then realized it wasn’t the change we though we would be getting. We really just want the option to toggle off pre-editing completely.”

Epic has listened though. They are adding a new setting in 2021 to remove pre-edits entirely, and it’ll be news to the ears of Fortnite players across the world.

“We understand we missed the mark in adding an option to disable pre-edits in the 15.10. We know many of you find pre-editing unnecessary and would like a setting where you’re not able to edit a build until the build is in place. We plan to adjust the setting early next year,” they said.

Now, we’ll just have to wait. After almost three years of campaigning though, SypherPK has finally gotten his victory, and it’s going to be a sweet one once it’s finally added.

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About The Author

Hailing from Perth, Andrew was formerly Dexerto's Australian Managing Editor. They love telling stories across all games and esports, but they have a soft spot for League of Legends and Rainbow Six. Oh, and they're also fascinated by the rise of VTubers.