Epic Games teased the key changes and improvements to expect once Fortnite: Battle Royale gets the next round of feature updates. The biggest news — SMG is exiting soon.
As part of its latest development update for Fortnite, the game studio provided a glimpse of the many things to come. Foremost is the developer's longstanding commitment to further optimize the online shooter's gameplay experience. On this respect, the company said a better level of optimization will roll out soon.
"We're getting close to being able to test a significant optimization to our networking code that should get us closer to running the server at a solid 20 Hz even in the beginning of the match," Epic Games said on its latest statement.
Further, gamers can look forward to the arrival of enhancements such as the addition of 60 fps mode for console users, which will be an optional feature and will go live by the end of February. More interesting, though, is the company's hint that new items will surely get introduced in the short term, meaning they'll be dropping soon.
New Items In, Old Things Out
Unfortunately, the promise to deliver new items for Fortnite fans' enjoyment will also mean that some favorite things will be withdrawn. Specifically, Epic said the SMG will be stored on the Vault indefinitely, and there is no indication when or if the favored gun will ever return.
"Next week we'll be putting our first weapon (SMG) into the Vault. These weapons may or may not return and this allows us to manage the weapon pool as we introduce newer weapons," the game studio said.
It seemed that the move is in line with Epic's experimentation of shuttling in and out weapons and consumables, all in the name of setting up Fortnite "for exciting new ways to play."
SMG Rotating Out
However, Epic hiding the SMG generated some form of confusion among fans. If the weapon will be stocked on the Vault soon, is there a plan to make it available again?
The answer was provided by the game studio on Reddit, essentially confirming that the gun will be pulled out, and it may or may not return.
"As we add more weapons, consumables, and other item types we want to make sure that the balance of itemization isn't ruined. Expect more items to be released (and likewise vaulted!) in the future," the company explained.
For those wondering if the SMG will be seen again, Epic said, "items will often come back out of the Vault when the timing is right."
The company suggested that loyal fans will not miss the vaulted gun at all, as "Tactical SMG and the Suppressed SMG will still drop."
