The makers of 'Fortnite' have removed an 'embarrassing' and 'careless' breast animation from the new season of the game
- After "Fortnite" Season 6 rolled out Thursday, players noticed that Calamity - a new "Fortnite" outfit - featured sexualized breast animations.
- The game's developer, Epic Games, said the animation was unintended and pushed out a patch to correct it in less than 24 hours.
- "Fortnite" is a free game with a massive audience of young players. Epic likely wants to avoid upsetting parents with sexual content.
Just a day after launching the Season 6 update for "Fortnite," Epic Games has rolled out a patch to correct a sexualized animation.
Shortly after the release of the Season 6 update, players noticed that one of the game's new legendary costumes, Calamity, had an animation that would make her breasts bounce suggestively:
The Calamity outfit has multiple iterations with different clothing, but only the base tank top outfit displays the animation. The dancing animation can be done on command, making it a ripe target for trolling players.
In a statement to The Verge, an Epic Games spokesperson called the animation "embarrassing."
"This is unintended, embarrassing, and it was careless for us to let this ship. We are working now to fix this as soon as possible," the statement said.
Toeing the family-friendly line
Video game developers have received waves of criticism for unrealistic portrayals of women's bodies, which range from impossible anatomy to outright disrespectful clothing choices. While some companies have chosen to focus on more positive representations of women, others have historically chosen to lean on the gross sex appeal.
"Street Fighter V," for example, came under fire when a glitch caused female characters' breasts to move before each match:
As a free game that makes most of its money from selling cosmetic changes, "Fortnite" has a vested interest in making character models appealing to players.
However, "Fortnite" also has a huge audience of young players, and could risk alienating families by including sexual content. So far, the game has successfully toed the family-friendly line by injecting large doses humor alongside the gun-wielding gameplay.
With today's patch, the animation has been wiped from the game. But Epic will need to start keeping better track of the content that rolls out the door.