Fortnite, like most competitive shooter games, is heavily dependent on ping and video frames. Unfortunately, players are not getting to enjoy their actual internet quality in the popular battle royale, and it’s possibly because of an unintended effect v25.11 had on its netcode.
On July 19, popular Fortnite streamer Nick Eh 30 shared his recent experience on Twitter, claiming his internet quality has deteriorated from usual. “Normally, I get 25 ping. Now I’m getting 80 ping while in-game,” he reported having faced the same on the North America East servers.
The creator had taken a short break from streaming and editing for a three-day vacation. He reported having begun facing the ping issue after returning from the trip a few days back. “Want to confirm before contacting my ISP,” he said.
Nick’s tweet received numerous agreeing replies, stating Fortnite’s sorry network state. Popular streamers like Martoz and several others mentioned facing ping spikes across different North American servers, including the West and Central.
The issue isn’t just plaguing the battle royale but also Fortnite Creative. While a few ping spike reports are mild, some players are being forced to play the game at over 100 ping, up from their usual 25 to 40 ping.
Some players also reported FPS drops alongside the notorious ping spikes, which isn’t unnatural. You’ll likely face packet loss and other performance gaps with high ping. With Fortnite’s battle royale being a highly competitive shooter, players aren’t happy about it.
Popular Fortnite leaker and creator Pluto V2 said t the game’s ping issues began after the last update, referring to v25.11’s latest and final hotfix, which returned the previously vaulted Big Bush Bomb and added a new reality augment called Shrub Mud. He also highlighted how the ping quality gets messed up with “every second update.”
Ping and performance issues after updates aren’t just limited to Fortnite; almost every online multiplayer game suffers from annoying network hiccups following patches. It’s usually because the servers struggle to accommodate the higher traffic, but update-related optimization problems may also be the trigger. If the latter holds true, Epic Games should patch things up soon.
Related: All Fortnite error codes and how to fix them
If your internet ping spikes too much in Fortnite, it may also be because of a local network issue. Try restarting the router, switching to a different network, disabling VPN, switching to a friendlier DNS, or other network troubleshooting steps to make sure it isn’t a problem on your side. You can also contact your ISP for help.
