Fortnite leaker claims GTA-style Wanted system is in development

Nathan Warby
Police cars in Fortnite

Fortnite is constantly evolving to stay ahead of the competition, and a well-known leaker has revealed that a Wanted system inspired by GTA could arrive in a future update.

In the years since it was released, Fortnite has established itself as one of the most popular battle royale games on the market. This is partly thanks to the many crossovers it has pulled off, such as The Witcher and Dragon Ball Super, as well as its ability to keep its gameplay fresh.

As recently as Chapter 4 Season 1, Epic introduced the new Reality Augment perk system, adding a brand-new layer each match as players unlock different abilities over time.

Now, just after the Fortnite 23.30 update went live, well-known leaker HYPEX has claimed that the developers are working on a new feature inspired by games like GTA, which could arrive as a major gameplay change later down the line.

In a now-deleted January 31 tweet, shortly after the downtime for the 23.20 update ended, HYPEX said: Fortnite are working on a new ‘Wanted System’ where you, as the wanted person can ‘Reduce Heat’ with 200 gold.”

While the leaker added that they have “no idea” how the rest of the feature would work, a Wanted level would certainly be an interesting new addition to Fortnite.

Screenshot of HYPEX tweet

The Wanted system was popularized by the Grand theft Auto series, seeing waves of AI police hunt players down if they committed crimes around the map. The level would increase by the number and severity of the crimes, which caused more drastic measures to be deployed, from regular cop cars up to helicopters full of SWAT teams.

Applying this to Fortnite, it could mean that teams will be attacked by AI if they rack up a high enough Wanted level. However, it remains to be seen what ‘crimes’ players would have to commit in order to earn a higher rating.

Fortnite already features a Bounty system, where teams can accept contracts to find and eliminate rival players, so we’ll have to wait and see how the Leaked Wanted mechanic would play out differently.

Of course, it’s worth keeping in mind that this is still just a leak for now, so take it with a pinch of salt until Epic announces the feature for themselves.


For more on Fortnite, be sure to check out how to complete the Dead Space Strange Transmission Quests, and how to use the Falcon Scout item.

Image credit: Epic Games / HYPEX

About The Author

Nathan is a Senior Writer at CharlieIntel. He’s an expert in EA Sports FC, Call of Duty, and Overwatch, as well as superhero games, including Marvel’s Spider-Man. With a master's degree in Magazine Journalism from Nottingham Trent University, he worked as a Trainee Reporter for Derbyshire Live before moving into games media, with bylines at Dexerto, Cultured Vultures, and more. You can contact Nathan by email at [email protected].