Epic admits Fortnite's new age ratings 'didn't hit the mark,' says a new system is coming soon as part of a 'big in-game event'

pcgamer.com:

Epic Games has admitted that the new island-based age rating system in Fortnite «didn't hit the mark,» and now it's working on something new that will hopefully make things a little more equitable for everyone.

The controversial age ratings, rolled out last week, applied an ESRB-style rating to each individual island in Fortnite. The goal, Epic said at the time, was «to help parents and players make informed play decisions about the thousands of games and other experiences in Fortnite.»

That sounds reasonable enough. The problem is that some of the cosmetics in the game aren't compatible with the E (Everyone) or E10+ rating, including some items that people had paid for. Simply put, that means players cannot use T (Teen)-rated cosmetics in E-rated islands: Instead, those cosmetics are automatically replaced with something that is compatible with the island's rating. Epic said only about 7% of Fortnite's outfits carry the T rating (and thus cannot be equipped in E-rated islands), which is a very small amount, but even so—and this will surely come as no surprise—the scheme went over like a lead bus.

To be fair, some of the upset is justified. As redditor Just_what_itis pointed out, for instance, the «swole cat» Meowscles outfit cannot be used in younger-rated Fortnite islands, but the implacable psycho mass murderer Michael Myers is fair game everywhere. Fortnite itself is rated T, which makes the presence of E-rated islands kind of a head-scratcher all on its own.

For some, the problem seemed less about the inability to use certain skins on certain islands, and more about the perceived future direction of Fortnite: Redditor cg114921 described it as «the Roblox-ification» of Fortnite, suggesting that Epic is too focused on