Overview
- Epic Games, which announced layoffs of more than 1,000 employees Tuesday, said it will permanently remove Fortnite’s Rocket Racing, Ballistic, and Festival Battle Stage.
- Ballistic and Festival Battle Stage shut down on April 16 with the 40.20 update, while Rocket Racing leaves the game in October 2026.
- Epic said the modes failed to keep enough players, and independent tracker fortnite.gg showed steep drops, with Rocket Racing averaging about 969 concurrent users in the day before the news.
- For creators, Rocket Racing quests end next week and the UEFN track template is already gone, with April adding car physics, hazards, and track-spline tools to the base editor so custom racing islands can be rebuilt.
- The retrenchment also reaches Epic-owned Aquiris, which will delist Horizon Chase and Horizon Chase Turbo from stores on June 1, 2026.