Fortnite promises fixes after age ratings update frustrates players with 'inappropriate' cosmetics

Epic Games has promised fixes to remedy early frustrations with Fortnite's newly introduced age ratings system, which has left players frustrated after many popular cosmetics have become unusable in certain parts of the game in order to meet ratings requirements.

Last month bought the news Epic would be introducing individual age ratings for all playable first- and third-party content in Fortnite as part of what it called its evolution into a "multi-game ecosystem". Epic is, of course, currently trying to expand the reach of Fortnite by placing a greater focus on Roblox-style user-generated experiences build using its recently released Creative 2.0 tools - and the game's latest update means all these experiences now come with age ratings, starting at E for Everyone and going through E10+ up to Teen.

So far, so sensible. The problem is the seemingly haphazard way all this has been implemented in a game that has, up until now, been exclusively rated Teen. Essentially, as of Fortnite's latest update, every single bit of content, including all cosmetics, has been given its own age rating - and players are being prevented from accessing Creative mode experiences if they're wearing anything flagged as age-inappropriate. It doesn't help either, that seemingly benign cosmetics skins - a muscular cartoon cat, for instance - are rated Teen-only and considered unsuitable for children, while others, such as Halloween's Michael Myers are rated a-okay for the young 'uns.

Read more