Leaking content early has become a major part of the Fortnite community, but it seems Epic Games is asking leakers to keep the contents of Chapter 3 a secret.
Fortnite Chapter 3 is just a few days away, but players normally wouldn’t need to wait that long to see what it has in store. That’s because a community of leakers on Twitter usually reveals the contents of the update before it goes live.
We say usually, because this time around, Epic Games has requested that leakers not post Chapter 3 content until downtime for the update ends. The request was only issued to some of the largest leakers in the community including HYPEX and Shiina.
However, it seems the request comes with no compensation, repercussions, or legal agreements. Simply put, Epic Games is calling in a favor.
Who is leaking Fortnite Chapter 3 content?
Although HYPEX and Shiina were the only two to receive the request, Epic Games is asking the community as a whole to refrain from leaking Chapter 3 content until Fortnite v19.00 goes live.
That being said, asking a simple favor for nothing in return won’t stop leakers from continuing to do their jobs.
HYPEX is by far the biggest leaker in the community with 1.9 million followers on Twitter. And while they haven’t had the best history with Epic Games, they tweeted that they would be following its requests.
So, if HYPEX is your main source of Fortnite leaks, you’re going to need to look elsewhere for Chapter 3.
I've made my mind up.. I won't leak anything Chapter 3 or event related even if it leaks by others, unless if Epic post it themselves.
I really wanna get this feeling again of no leaks on a chapter/season launch just like pre Chapter 1 Season 6. hopefully y'all agree with this.
— HYPEX (@HYPEX) December 2, 2021
Shiina, being the other to receive the request, hasn’t accepted Epic Games’ agreement to not leak content.
In conversation with Dexerto, Shiina stated: “After their initial message, we thought this couldn’t work at all which is the main reason why we sent them suggestions to improve their idea. As far as I know, they haven’t responded to these suggestions yet, so there’s no real “agreement” here yet (at least from my side).”
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Epic Games has asked leakers to not post any leaks during the v19.00 downtime.
We realize why this is an important concern for them and have provided suggestions on how to make their idea work in a good way.
Based on their response, we will evaluate if this is a realistic idea.
— Shiina (@ShiinaBR) December 1, 2021
iFireMonkey is another leading member of the Fortnite leaking community with an impressive 775k followers on Twitter, but they didn’t receive Epic Games’ request. And it seems as if he will continue to post leaked content like normal.
In conversation, he stated: “All they did was ask us to wait until downtime ended before leaking stuff, but we all know that probably won’t happen.”
Personally, I have been trying to think about how this would work for a bit today and how I feel is that if anyone is able to leak the update I see no reason for me to not post leaks, since no matter what people would be able to post it anyways.
We will have to wait and see.
— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) December 1, 2021
Will there be Fortnite Chapter 3 leaks?
Despite leakers ignoring Epic Games’ laughable request, that doesn’t mean it will be possible to leak content. According to Shiina, there are various new factors at play with Chapter 3 that could stop leakers from datamining, though.
With the start of Chapter 3, Fortnite is switching to Unreal Engine 5. Shiina stated that this will make datamining harder in v19.00 and beyond. As well, an Epic Games employee told Shiina they “have made some changes for 19.00 to make things slightly more difficult, but nothing is ever perfect”.
The process of datamining and posting has been automated thanks to the use of bots. However, several public bots/services that are used by a vast majority of dataminers to properly do their “job” will be turned off during v19.00 downtime.
“All of that will most likely stop people from leaking content,” stated Shiina.
Epic Games wants Fortnite’s new content to be a surprise. They want players to be able to play a few rounds for themselves before seeing the new content on Twitter. And despite leakers ignoring their request, that might actually happen.
For more Fortnite, check out the five things we want to see in Chapter 3, and stay tuned for more news and guides.
