Epic Games released a new social deduction game mode for their already successful game Fortnite on August 17th, 2021, titled “Impostors.” Avid players seem to believe Fortnite is copying the immensely popular Among Us.

Is this something we’ve seen before?

Among Us is a deduction game that involves fifteen players, each assigned either the role of a Crewmate or an Impostor. The Crewmates’ job is to complete their set of tasks around the map, reporting dead bodies as they are found, and voting off the Impostors during the emergency meetings. The Impostors’ job is to set off emergency tasks to distract the Crewmates, kill off the Crewmates, and avoid getting caught.

Fortnite: Impostors is also a deduction game that involves ten players, each assigned either the role of an Agent or an Impostor. The Agents’ job is to complete their set of tasks around the map, reporting dead bodies as they are found, and voting off the Impostors during the emergency meetings. The Impostors’ job is to set off emergency tasks to distract the Agents, kill off the Agents, and avoid getting caught.

When comparing the two games, they seem almost identical. According to The Verge, several members of both communities are surprised to see Fortnite trying out a new game style, but others believe that it is just a quick grab for money.

“I think this is a low blow from Epic Games,” says Ammanuel “Manny” Hagos (‘22). “It is another case of a big company taking advantage of a community-based developer team.”

Hagos plans on becoming a videogame developer/designer. He loves pl\
-aying Fortnite, but is now worried that his whole future will be jeopardized by larger companies getting away with taking his ideas.

“They couldn’t even be creative enough to come up with their own names,” Hagos (22) argues. “I think that they used ‘Impostors’ to take some of Among Us’ already built-up popularity.”

This would not be the first time Epic Games has been accused of stealing intellectual property. Their most popular game, Fortnite, began as a zombie survival game, akin to Minecraft and Terraria. But when Player Unknown: BattleGrounds began to grow in popularity for their battle royale mode, Fortnite quickly switched over.

Some community members, like Alex Tep (23) think that Epic Games has gotten too big. Tep used to enjoy playing the game, but recently dropped it when he saw the recent update.

“I think it’s crazy how Epic Games can just get away with these blatant copies,” says Tep (23), “and it all comes down to us, the player/fanbase, since we’re the reason Fortnite is so popular now.”

Epic Games’ new game mode, Fortnite: Impostors, is another example of how easily small businesses can be taken advantage of, especially when they’re against huge companies with even bigger wallets.