Fortnite Offers Free Pickaxe as Apology for Server Problems

01/17/2022 11:41 am EST

In case you somehow missed it, the popular video game Fortnite experienced some serious login issues in late December -- including a big 8-hour-long stretch of downtime -- that were ultimately resolved, but it still meant that players had trouble accessing the title when they actually wanted to. This is especially troublesome during the holidays when more folks than ever are likely to be trying to play. As an apology of sorts, developer Epic Games is set to offer folks a big XP boost and free item with some caveats attached.

"As thanks for everyone's patience during the December login issues," the developer announced yesterday, "we'll be kicking off a Power Leveling Weekend from 1/7 @ 7 PM to 1/10 @ 7 AM ET and granting everyone who logged in during Winterfest the new Crescent Shroom Pickaxe before it arrives in the Shop later!"

You can check it out for yourself, direct from the Fortnite Twitter account, below:

The caveats here of course are the fact that the XP boost (the Power Leveling Weekend) is specifically set to take place this weekend only while the Crescent Shroom Pickaxe is being granted only to those that have logged in during the ongoing Winterfest event in Fortnite. This is all fairly typical for constantly online, free-to-play titles in terms of "apology" compensation for downtime and the like, but it is worth keeping in mind that time is running out to be able to get the new Pickaxe for free before it drops in the shop.

Fortnite Chapter 3 Season 1: Flipped is currently available. As for Fortnite in general, the popular free-to-play battle royale video game is currently available on most major platforms in its latest form save for the iOS version. You can check out all of our previous coverage of Fortnite right here.    

What do you think of Fortnite offering the Crescent Shroom Pickaxe and Power Leveling Weekend as an apology for the recent downtime? Were you at all impacted by the problems Fortnite had in December? Let us know in the comments, or feel free to reach out and hit me up directly over on Twitter at @rollinbishop to talk about all things gaming!

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