Fortnite players flame Epic over default skin bug: “Should be illegal”

David Purcell
fortnite default skins

Fortnite players are losing their patience with Epic Games after noticing that other people can’t see the skins they have bought in the Item Shop. 

The problem, which many members of the community have been experiencing for back-to-back seasons, defeats the purpose of purchasing outfits in many ways.

Many skins on the market are available for a few dollars and while the owner can still see them after spawning in-game, often they are faced with a situation where all members of the session are restored to default skins.

Now, those who have spent hard-earned cash in the Item Shop are wondering what’s the point anymore.

Fortnite players demand fix for ‘default’ skin glitch

An image of Fortnite Chapter 3.
Fortnite players will have shelled out a lot of money for Chapter 3 skins that, in some cases, others cannot see.

One went as far to say that it should be “illegal,” though it’s highly unlikely that Epic Games intends it to be this way.

On January 10, one Reddit user – who plays the battle royale game on Xbox Series S – said: “Fortnite charges all this damn money for skins, and then we can’t even show them off. User skins spawn in default regardless of the system you are playing on.

“I know they do it to reduce lag, etc. But if you sell the damn skins make sure your game can handle it.”

Fortnite players react

In response to the thread, a consensus has been formed – with the majority of users voicing their concerns.

One said: “This bug is pretty annoying every time before the game starts all I see are default skins while I’m the only one with an actual skin.”

A second user added: “I play on PC and I don’t think I’ve ever had this problem, but I’ve noticed it if I ever play on the switch for years now.”

the rock in fortnite
Fortnite players may have raised their eyebrows a few times over this issue.

Another suggested: “It’s not a bug. It’s because older consoles can’t load all of them in for performance reasons.”

While that seems to be a reasonable explanation to the problem and would explain why Epic Games have been unable to get a handle on the problem, the Xbox Series S console is not an older model. Clearly, this muddies the waters further.

Will it be fixed?

This issue does not appear to impact every single game of Fortnite, so there are irregularities in that sense.

However, the lack of visibility is becoming a lightning rod in the game’s community, as this is just one of many posts on the matter – racking up hundreds of upvotes and comments.

Whether this issue is high on Epic’s priority list remains to be seen, but it is not featured on their Trello board at the time of writing.

About The Author

David is the former US Managing Editor at Dexerto.com. You can contact him via email: david.purcell@dexerto.com.