Fortnite cosmetic age gating is being disabled for most skins in Chapter 5
In the latest Fortnite update, the team behind the game introduced cosmetic gating. As we detailed in our Fortnite 27.10 patch notes, this is a system that limits the types of skins and other cosmetic items you can wear on certain items. Epic Games has now announced that it will be dramatically scaling it back when Chapter 5 starts.
Every item in Fortnite is assigned an age rating to comply with the ESRB and the most recent Fortnite update also added a system that gives an age rating to any user-created islands on Fortnite Creative. As part of this system, any cosmetic that had a higher rating than the island you were on, would not be allowed on that island. For example, a Teen-rated skin can’t be used on an Everyone-rated island.
This immediately caused an uproar in the Fortnite community, as a lot of sins were rated higher than anticipated, and many users found over half of their locker wasn’t allowed to be used on some of the most popular Fortnite islands.
Following the outcry from the community, Epic released a short statement on Monday evening, saying that they “were conservative in how we reviewed cosmetics and their potential impact on an island’s rating,” and that they will be “evaluating all cosmetics again now.”
It is now working on getting a long-term solution in place, but in the meantime, the floodgates will be opened and the vast majority of cosmetics will be allowed on E-rated islands again starting on December 3, when the Chapter 5 update drops. Until then, “less than ten outfits will remain playable only in T-rated islands.”
You can keep up to date with the latest new additions to Fortnite by checking out our Fortnite 27.11 patch notes.
