The problems with Epic's Fortnite policy: How their short term goals threaten to destroy their own game

The Fortnite Crew subscription model is Epic’s latest attempt to get their players to spend a few dollars more on their game.

Continuing their policy to only work on those parts of Fortnite that can extract as much profit from their community as possible, Epic has released a new special emote for all past, current, and future members of the Fortnite Crew.

This will be a way for Fortnite Crew members to stand apart from the rest of the crowd, and likely entice new players to fork over a monthly subscription for yet more digital goodies.

Thinking about becoming part of Fortnite Crew? Learn more about how it works, all the perks, and what’s to come 👑🦊https://t.co/rs4WEvSwTR

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) January 14, 2021

Fortnite Crew isn’t inherently bad, but…

The reason why seeing Epic push the Fortnite Crew subscription is so disappointing is that Epic’s recent policy regarding other aspects of their game has been questionable.

They've begun to ignore valid complaints, reduce their community involvement, and generally avoid doing anything for or with Fortnite players that doesn’t involve getting players to spend money on the game.

With every passing week, it is becoming increasingly clear that Epic doesn’t care about their communities or fans, and sees them only in terms of how much money they can extract from each group.

Is it any wonder why Fortnite: Save The World, once the original purpose behind the game’s development, was so heavily sidelined and ignored?

Despite raking in billions of dollars, the game still feels barren and lifeless compared to the high speed updates being pushed for Fortnite: Battle Royale.

Epic doesn’t have an artistic vision for Fortnite; its only goal is to generate revenue and fund their corporate schemes to topple other, larger corporations.

“Ends our ability to develop Fortnite: save the world”You guys are so out of touch to don’t even read your own blog post. What do you think #savesavetheworld was about? Was it about making the original FortNite free, perhaps? You don’t know, or care. Enjoy your $3, def worth it

— Fellowearthling16 (@CFellowearthlin) September 18, 2020

Greed can’t sustain a game

The fact that Epic wants to profit off of Fortnite isn’t a big deal. It’s a great start towards motivating developers and decision makers into making something unique, fun, and engaging.

But Epic is in a rare position for a game development studio. Their product is so incredibly profitable that they don’t even need to worry about the financials. They make billions off of Fortnite each year.

They could completely stop worrying about whether or not they’ll make enough money to pay developers, afford rent, or other major worries that smaller studios have to consider, and shift their focus towards refining their artistic vision.

However, they’ve seemingly given up on having a unique artistic direction for their game, deciding instead to dedicate most of their time towards generating constant player engagement. If Epic isn’t satisfied with billions of dollars, what will ever satisfy them? What can ever fill that void if billions of dollars can’t?

Epic’s current policy with Fortnite, whether planned or simply by chance, threatens to ultimately cannibalize their own community. The game’s current identity is slowly being lost under wave after wave of valueless digital merch and monetization.

Unless things change soon, Fortnite could have major hurdles to manoeuvre in the months and years to come.

Disclaimer: The following is entirely the opinion of the writer, and is not reflective of Sportskeeda as a whole.