Censorship in Fortnite

The ESRB gives Fortnite a T for Teen Rating, citing Diverse Content. As such, the rating limits the features that can be present in many of Fortnite's games, and requires that some elements (mainly those of real world media) are to be edited. The following is a list of features which have been edited or changed to fit this rating, or due to real world controversy.

Music

Music[]

Music is present in Fortnite in three main ways: Lobby Tracks which for the most part are First-Party audio tracks, Radio Stations which are primarily real world music, and Jam Tracks used in Fortnite Festival to perform to. The last two are most prevalent to editing. Some of the things that have been removed include:

  • Drug and Alcohol references. For example, Shape of You by Ed Sheeran had the word "bar" censored, as it was in reference to a place where alcohol is commonly sold. Furthermore, in the It Was All A Dream Lobby Track, references to marijuana are removed.
  • Swear words are removed from songs on the radio, with a select few still being present. The word "pissy" is present in It Was All A Dream for example, but worse words, including slurs, are removed. A good example of this is in Holiday where the f-slur is altered to sound different.
    • However, “Sieg Heil”, a phrase that was commonly used by the Nazis, is not censored.
  • References to terrorism are removed, such as a reference to the 1993 World Trade Center bombing in It Was All A Dream.
  • References to sex are directly present like in Basket Case, as well as words such as "sexy" are present, such as in Gangnam Style.
  • References to religion are also removed, such as Beyonce's line in Walk on Water having the word Jesus removed.
Real World Connections

Real World Connections[]

Sometimes, real world issues can impact a video game due to a feature being present alluding to something that has happened in the real world.

  • During Chapter 2: Season 3, Police Cars were removed from the map due to ongoing protests about police brutality. Furthermore, it was leaked that Police Cars were originally going to be drivable, but this was also removed. Despite this, a Police Car was seen in the Zero Crisis Finale cinematic. The Police Car was also removed from the Junk Rift item after police cars were removed from Battle Royale, along with the police car prop found in the Prison prefab in Creative being replaced with a normal car.
    • They were reintroduced to the files in Chapter 3: Season 4, but as of writing are not present on the map.
  • One of The Blocks was removed for featuring a Hanging Scene inside.
  • An incident at a Travis Scott concert in 2021 resulted in the Out West Emote being pulled from the day's Item Shop. The emote returned several months later without issue.
  • The 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine resulted in the Rushin' Around emote being removed from Item Shop rotation. It was previously on a 30 day rotation but disappeared as the invasion started.
  • Stuck has not appeared since its initial release, leading players to believe that the emote has garnered enough controversy to keep it away from rotation, and as of writing this, has been missing for over a year.
  • Fresh is likely to never return to the item shop due to a lawsuit from Alfonso Ribeiro claiming that Epic had used the dance without his permission.
  • It's Complicated is the target of a different lawsuit, as the choreography for the emote was not credited to Kyle Hanagami.
    • The lawsuit however, was dismissed. The fate of the emote is unknown.
  • Go Mufasa, Jabba Switchway and Pull Up were no longer in Item Shop rotation due to controversy surrounding the Artist who performs the song in the emotes, DaBaby.
  • Get Griddy was no longer in the Item Shop rotation due to recent criminal charges on the Artist who performs the song in the emote, YoungBoy Never Broke Again.
    • However, the emote did return in the December 14th 2024 Item Shop refresh.
Collaborations

Collaborations[]

Some collaborations between Fortnite and other media pull references from shows with ratings higher than Fortnite's T rating. As such, some references have been changed.

  • The set names of more mature collaborations are changed to align with Fortnite's age rating ("Future War" for Terminator, "Ultra-Nightmare" for Doom, "Isaac Unbound" for The Binding of Isaac, etc.) Though exceptions may be included, such as Family Guy (most likely considering the censored version of the show).
  • The Super Cab-Masher's screen features a sprite of Guile's defeated portrait from Street Fighter II, albeit edited to remove the blood seen in the original sprite.
  • Morty's Backpack had its description altered from its actual show reference, scrubbing the vulgar language from the quotation.
  • Cammy's traditional appearance from Street Fighter was altered to have leggings going with her leotard.
  • Kelsier carries on his belt three vials of alcohol mixed with "metal flakes" for him to drink and burn metals. In Fortnite, he carries these same vials but they appear to contain Slurp instead of alcohol.
  • Crashing Satellite has the markings of the U.S.S.R. flag in The Walking Dead. In Fortnite, it is a simple red flag with no detail to avoid references to real-world political ideologies.
  • Blood markings are removed or replaced, such as in the Nord Warrior, the Butcher Cleaver, or the Terminator's Battle Damaged style.
  • Ciri has her unbuttoned shirt revealing a gray undershirt, but originally in The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt her bra is visible.
  • Sakura normally wears bloomers in the Street Fighter series, which were altered to resemble shorts in Fortnite.
  • Hopper's Cabin Diorama's toy car was censored to keep consistency with the removal of cop cars from the game in respect of the Black Lives Matter movement since 2020.
  • Slim Shady's idle animation shows him throwing up a peace sign, instead of his signature raised middle finger.
  • Leatherface's design was slightly altered to make him wear a mask made of burlap, instead of one made out of human skin like the ones he wears in The Texas Chainsaw Massacre franchise.
  • Snoop Dogg is known for flashing gang signs and dancing the C-walk, a dance used by members of the Crips to signal gang affiliation and covertly spell out information. In Fortnite, his gesture is modified to a "West Coast" sign and his C-walk turned into a similar dance that lacks a gang meaning.
  • Kitana (MK3)'s appearance from the Mortal Kombat series was altered to cover her chest and to include shorts.
  • The Alley Hangout Emote removes any references to alcohol by replacing the beer cans with green Slurp cans.
  • Murdoc's traditional upside-down cross was replaced with a pirate symbol to remove any sort of religious imagery.
  • In Chapter 6: Mini Season 2, references related to Duff Beer in Springfield Island were rebranded and replaced with Slurp.
Fortnite: China

Fortnite: China[]

Main Article: Fortnite: China

Fortnite: China was an exclusive version of Fortnite only playable in China. Due to their censorship laws surrounding violence, depiction of skulls, and video game access for children, the game had some significant changes. For example, Skull items such as Skull Trooper were not present at all, Mystique's Skull Back Bling was changed into a sphere, and skull themed edit styles were changed to remove skull related iconography.

Age Restricted Cosmetics

Age Restricted Cosmetics[]

Main Article: Age Restricted Cosmetics

During Update v27.10, certain cosmetics became restricted for use in certain Fortnite experiences. All cosmetics could be used in experiences rated T for Teen, but experiences rated E or E10+ had certain restrictions on what cosmetics could be worn, primarily on cosmetics that feature real-life weapons (such as knives or guns) or feature obvious fear or violence elements (such as The Devourer or Carnage). Certain Jam Tracks that feature uncensored lyrics or questionable themes are also restricted to experiences rated T (such as SexyBack or Nightmare). As of Update v37.10, 184 cosmetics cannot be used in E/E10+ experiences.

LEGO Styles

LEGO Styles[]

The LEGO Group has a long standing policy on not creating pieces or sets based on real weapons or military theming. Because of this, many Outfits in Fortnite that reference or have weapons attached to them have slightly altered LEGO Styles (such as either replacing or removing the attached weapons). For the same reason, many collaborations (such as Peter Griffin or Kratos) don't have LEGO styles at all, as they appeal to more mature audiences, though some mature characters have received LEGO styles (such as Bloodsport, based on his appearance in The Suicide Squad (2021))

A comparison between Splode and his LEGO Style, where the latter has all references to explosives replaced with pool balls.

Other Notes

Other Notes[]

  • Fortnite: Save the World has made references to sex, with dialogue in the No Dancing Event Questline involving Major Oswald noting a 68% Combat Efficiency drop, which he rounded down to prevent a 'cheap joke'.
  • Joe "Ramsie" Bo from Fortnite: Save the World had his description changed to replace the word "killed" with "beat" around Chapter 4: Season 1.
  • Despite the ESRB rating, Fortnite: Save the World includes mild language.
  • In both Batman/Fortnite: Zero Point and Fortnite X Marvel: Zero War comic series, some things are included that the game itself cannot due to its rating. For example, both comics feature depictions of blood and death instead of the typical in-game Eliminations featuring Rezz Energy and Spawn Drones. In the Zero War comics, Wolverine is routinely seen being heavily injured, with copious amounts of gore and blood, as well as The Devourer being more violently killed in the comic. Furthermore, it is heavily implied that Wolverine and The Imagined have intercourse.
    • The words "damn", "crap", "ass", and "hell" are also used frequently.
  • The Bender Bending Rodríguez NPC had the following dialogues removed due to copyright, not being appropriate for the game's rating, & mentioning God. (You injured my friend! Come back here and offer me a cash settlement!, I feel like I could bend Girderzilla!, & Oh, thank God I’m still alive! Also you.)
  • The Bear Hug Emote had an inappropriate bug that people could use. This was later fixed in an update.
  • Calamity on release had physics which were inappropriate for the game's rating. This was quickly removed, although one could consider this a bug.
    • More likely, the wrong version of Calamity was ported to live, with this version being a joke amongst developers.
  • Evie's chest size was decreased in her Syndicate Couture style in Update v21.20, due to the model not originally fitting her base style.
  • During the Rift Tour, "b*tch" was mistakenly audible, but was removed on the official replay of the event on YouTube.
    • A similar incident occurred within Eminem's concert in The Big Bang, where he could be seen lip syncing the word "b*tch" in Godzilla, despite it being censored in the song.
  • Build Up uses music from the song Build a B*tch, but as the word does not make it onto the emote, it was renamed and could have been used without issue.
  • Some album covers in a few Jam Tracks, mostly those that feature explicit imagery, are censored and replaced with other images. Examples include Nirvana's Nevermind (as seen in the covers for Breed and Smells Like Teen Spirit), Metallica's Kill 'Em All (as seen in Seek & Destroy) and The Weeknd's After Hours (as seen in Save Your Tears).
    • Despite falling within the usual criteria for replacement, Metallica's Reload (as seen in Fuel) is left intact.
  • When All I Do Is Win was first released, the word "f*ck" was completely uncensored in Rick Ross and DJ Khaled's verse. This was later fixed hours later, but the vocal chart remained the same.
  • The Moxxi's Lip Service Emote was renamed Moxxi's Kiss to avoid possible innuendos, but has since been renamed to it's original title.
  • The official Fortnite Twitter account had censored the word "f*cking" in one of the promotional tweets for Chapter 6: Season 4.[1]
  • The Yuki's Revenge premiere in-game had only censored the word "f*cking" in almost all instances of the word appearing. Every other swear remained uncensored. Additionally, depictions of blood were replaced with Rezz Energy, death is represented with a Spawn Drone, and "Bill's blue concoction" that Yuki Yubari overdoes on (implied to be drugs) was represented with a Small Shield Potion.
    • When the short premiered in theaters during showings of Kill Bill: The Whole Bloody Affair (2011), the entire short was completely uncensored.
  • In Fortnite's twitter post announcing that the Bus Driver had somehow survived the attack from the Dark Voyager, the word "*****" (b*tch) is censored.
    • In that same post, numerous follow up replies were made to poke fun at it, with the Twitter account insinuating it could mean many other things (clown, joker, voygr, etc.).
  • After d4vd was arrested and charged for his alleged involvement in the death of Celeste Rivas Hernandez, Epic Games replaced the cover arts for his two Jam Tracks (What Are You Waiting For and Locked & Loaded) with blank images on April 28th 2026, as well as adding the Emotes featuring his music (Feel It and Trophy Drop) to the Confrontational Emotes list in Update v40.40, allowing players to choose whether to see them in-game. In addition, Epic opened up these cosmetics for self-service refunds without the need to use a Refund Ticket.
References

References[]