Epic Games’ Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), toolset is only two days old, but Epic Games is already threatening permanent bans to creators who violate copyright. This includes violating content creators share on social media, and content they don’t intend to publish .
Epic stated in a blog posting on Friday that all content in Fortnite must comply with Fortnite’s game rating, Fortnite Island Creator rules and intellectual and DMCA guidelines. Epic wrote that violators of UEFN — , even if they don’t intend to publish it in Fortnite, or share it on social media, could face content takedowns, enforcement actions, and even permanent account bans.
Epic even set limits for creators creating Fortnite history. Epic has stated that some developers have published experience replicating maps from Fortnite’s first Chapter (a chapter which ended on 2019), but that these experiences cannot monetize.
Epic also made a “special and special exception” that allows creators to use maps from the chapter. Epic also reminded creators in the same blog post that Epic is making a “special and specific exception” to allow them to use Epic’s intellectual properties without their permission and that Epic owns all seasonal variations of Fortnite Battle Royale maps, islands and other content.
UEFN provides a wide range of tools that allow creators to create Fortnite experiences. However, Epic seems to want to prevent legal scuffles by trying to stamp down on any property that could be considered to be Epic’s. They want to allow future cross-overs. Twitter is a great place to find examples of content that violates the rules. I was able to locate videos of Fortnite worlds that directly replicate layouts from an Overwatch track and multiple Mario Kart tracks.
According to Epic’s IP guidelines page for Fortnite developers, the company will place strikes on your account for “every instance IP infringement not finally resolved in your favor.” It’s unclear how many strikes are required to get a permanent ban. Epic has been contacted for comment.
We will have to wait to see if Epic’s threat forces people to stop sharing their “adaptations” from other Fortnite games. Epic allows us to once again drop into the classic Tilted towers.
