Has your competition in Fortnite ever felt a bit… off? If so, Epic’s minimum real player counts may be to blame. A leaker with a proven track record claims (via Polygon) that the game’s OG version can sometimes be populated with over 90 percent bots.
The leaker AllyJax used a Discord bot called The Dub to find the number. (Among its other features, the tool lets you count the number of real players in a lobby.) “The minimum real player count has been reduced from 25 to as low as 8 in Fortnite OG,” AllyJax wrote. “There is a probable chance you can have matches with 92 bots.”
AllyJax says this only applies to Fortnite OG. That’s the mode that lets you play the game’s original map as it was in 2017. (It also includes old-school loot and seasons.) Epic brought the game mode back for good in November after a 2023 trial.
Epic Games
In a vacuum, companies like Epic using bots isn’t necessarily a bad thing. For starters, they can be used to shorten wait times for matches. The AI rivals can also size up new players’ abilities, leading to better matchmaking.
Their counts can change over time as publishers weigh these factors against the number of people playing. (AllyJax suggests Fortnite‘s can change from month to month.) But being surrounded by as many as 92 bots and only seven other humans is… probably not what you signed up for.
Engadget emailed Epic for a confirmation or comment. At the time of publication, we haven’t heard back. But we’ll update this story if we do.
