Fortnite is killing off trios and people are mad

Three is apparently the loneliest number now

Epic Games recently announced a brand-new Ranked mode for Fortnite, something players have been wanting for quite some time in the free-to-play battle royale game. The new mode is coming to both the standard battle royale and zero build game modes in the upcoming 24.40 patch, but that update is also removing a very popular game mode with seemingly no explanation.

At the bottom of a blog post featuring patch notes for version 24.40, was a single line:

“Please note that the Trios mode will be vaulted in Battle Royale and Zero Build in v24.40.”

That’s it. No explanation, no further elaboration. Just that from today, with the next update, Trios is gone. We don’t know when it’s coming back, or if it’s coming back at all. That single line is all we have, and naturally, a lot of people are pretty pissed off.

There are currently over 2000 replies to the tweet announcing the vaulting of the Trios mode, and the vast majority of them are from angry players. Some have tried to explain what they think the reason behind the change is — the prevailing theory is that Trios was the least-played regular mode, and that adding Ranked means queues might be longer if split across too many modes, but with no further information from Epic, it’s anyone’s guess.

Please note that with the launch of v24.40, we will be vaulting the Trios team size in Battle Royale and Zero Build.

For more details about what's coming in v24.40, check out our blog here: https://t.co/oSyuTGUbEk

— Fortnite Status (@FortniteStatus) May 16, 2023

Mostly though, there’s just anger, frustration, and upset. Many players have said they exclusively play in Trios, and the removal of the mode means they’ll either have to play at a disadvantage or simply not play at all. Players can still play as a group of three if they want, but they’d have to play in quads, which means either letting a random player join or simply entering a game full of four-man squads with only three teammates.

Whether or not Epic will reconsider the changes is up in the air. Player feedback has been overwhelmingly negative to the change, and some have pledged to cancel their Fortnite Crew subscriptions, stop spending money on the game, or even stop playing altogether. Whether that’s enough to get Epic to change its mind remains to be seen.