Fortnite says “goodbye” to themed updates for its racing mode after under a year

Fortnite's Rocket Racing game mode appears to no longer be getting new seasons or official tracks, as Epic Games and Psyonix update it.

It looks like Rocket Racing, the Rocket League spinoff available inside of Fortnite, is putting an end to adding official tracks to the game. Epic Games shared the news alongside update v31.40, saying “goodbye to Inferno Island and themed updates” while putting an emphasis on “tracks from creators.” The game mode will still get new quests, items, and ranked periods, but new seasonal overhauls and official tracks appear to be no more. It’s safe to say this hasn’t gone down well with the community, with many players unhappy with the end of extra races and themes.

Rocket Racing is a Fortnite exclusive racing game developed by Psyonix, the same team behind Rocket League. The game has been available inside the battle royale for less than a year, having held two seasons and adding many official races. Now though, the latest patch indicates an end to new seasonal-themed updates and implies that Psyonix will no longer add new official tracks to the game.

“v31.40 brings the theme back to the starting line as we say goodbye to Inferno Island and themed updates,” the Epic Games and Psyonix statement reads. “Future updates will be taking new roads with refreshed ranked periods, renewed quests, and additional car items you can take to the track!

“New tracks from creators are releasing every day so racers always have a different place to drift, flip, and fly. There’s no end to the starting lines you can discover! Or, if you’re curious about UEFN, to the ones you can create.”

Players are, understandably, reading this as the complete end of new seasons and official tracks. Since launch, the racing mode has had a steady stream of new tracks, with seven being added mere months ago in update v30.30. By contrast, update v.31.40 says goodbye to themed updates and has zero new, official races for players.

That said, the language here reads overly complicated and confusing. There’s no mention of new official races and themes, with the focus instead on car cosmetics, ranked challenges, and quests. So while it looks as though these bigger updates are forever finished in Rocket Racing, there might be something added down the road.

Even so, for an official mode developed under Epic Games, Rocket Racing hasn’t been performing too well for a while now. The debut of over 600,000 concurrents (according to Fortnite.gg) quickly dropped to less than 100,000. In the year since then, the Rocket Racing average playercount has struggled to beat 5,000 active users.

Rocket Racing and Rocket League developer Psyonix was acquired by Epic Games in 2019, with the mobile game Rocket League Sideswipe and Fortnite mode following. Rocket Racing was released in December 2023.

While we wait to hear more about Rocket Racing, you can catch up on the Fortnite Chapter 5 Season 5 release date. We’ve also broken down all the best Fortnite skins as well.

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