Fortnite rocket event ends in chaos as rogue player takes advantage of moment to net record number of kills

A one-time event led to a spirit of collaboration across the usually violent and dangerous world. But some rogue players chose to ignore it

Andrew Griffin
Monday 02 July 2018 04:31 EDT
Comments
Fortnite player hits all-time kill record of 48 before being killed himself

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

The rush to watch a one-off event in Fortnite led to a bizarre series of events and a brand new record for the number of kills by one person in the game.

In recent weeks, Fortnite has been taken over by a countdown clock that was teasing a mysterious event. It became clear that all the excitement was leading to a one-off event, during which a rocket would take off in real time, with only people playing at that specific moment able to see it.

The event led to a surprise pause in hostilities as the time approached, with players giving up on the battle royale part of the game and instead working together to build vast viewing platforms so they could see the event. As the moment approached, huge numbers of players gathered to watch the rocket come out of the ground and smash open the sky.

But one player, known as Elemental_Ray, was not part of the spirit of the moment. He chopped down one of those vast viewing platforms, leading people to fall to the ground and miss the moment because they were dead.

But it also allowed that one player to break a Fortnite record: he killed a full 48 people, the most one person has ever killed in a solo match in the game.

The Elemental_Ray game was far from the only one in which people were stopped from seeing the rocket launch by aggressive players. Fortnite fans vented online about the fact the moment had been spoiled by people who didn't take part in the new spirit of collaboration.

It won't be possible to ever see the rocket launch again, since it was a one-time event. It can be viewed on the huge numbers of screen captures that were made during the event by people who weren't killed by rogue players, however.

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in