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Fortnite vehicles will be disabled in competitive games this weekend

By Brittany Roston/

Vehicles remain very controversial in Fortnite competitive, where some players and fans feel the in-game transportation options have a negative impact on strategy and how rounds are won. The company was forced to disable the Baller vehicle in competitive play earlier this month due to a bug, resulting in favorable feedback from fans who enjoyed its absence. Now, the company says, all vehicles will be disabled, but only over the weekend.

It was only around one week ago that Epic disabled the Baller vehicle in Fortnite competitive, citing a bug that prevented players from exiting the giant rolling ball. The competitive play that followed resulted in a huge build battle that, by the end of the game, resulted in the following (and quite striking) image:

The builds at the end of a match in today's qualifiers. from r/FortNiteBR

A number of game fans have called for Epic to permanently remove all vehicles from Fortnite's competitions, leaving them only for the casual (non-competitive) gameplay modes. The company has resisted that feedback, but this weekend we'll get a look at how these events play out when all vehicles are disabled.

In a tweet on Thursday, Epic said that the Baller, Driftboard, and other vehicles will be disabled through the weekend (May 18 and 19) due to "an issue where players can become stuck in a vehicle and unable to exit." This change will apply to the Arena Mode and will cover the Fortnite World Cup Online Open event leading into next week.

It seems, for now at least, that Epic does intend to return the vehicles to the game. Conspiracy theories among players allege that Epic has chosen to leave the vehicles in the competitive games in order to avoid huge end-game build battles like the one above, which may potentially result in game lag.

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