Few things annoy console gamers more about cross-platform play than being forced to compete against PC gamers who are using a mouse and keyboard. The mouse and keyboard are sometimes seen as an unfair advantage to console gamers using a gamepad or other type of controller. PS4 gamers who are using a mouse and keyboard are considered to have an advantage over PS4 gamers using a DualShock controller, for instance. Xbox gamers don’t have to worry about that since there isn’t official mouse and keyboard support for the Xbox One. Regardless, Epic Games wants to keep things fair with Fortnite and plans to keep the mouse and keyboard users from slaughtering unsuspecting gamepad users.
To facilitate that Epic Games has announced that it will be rolling out input-based matchmaking for Fortnite that will ensure that anyone using a keyboard and mouse is only paired up with other gamers using the same controls. Since the game supports party play, this means if you are using a gamepad and someone in your party is using a mouse and keyboard, everyone will be matched up with keyboard and mouse competition. That is even though you may be using a gamepad. It's not clear if this means console gamers using a mouse and keyboard will square off against PC users on mouse and keyboard.
Matching you based on your chosen input method isn’t all that Epic has coming for Fortnite, however. Epic is also hoping to roll out the ability to customize your controls later in 2018. This means that gamers will be able to remap their gamepad exactly how they want it to be. Weapon balancing is changing, and Epic is talking about those coming changes as well. Evaluation of shotgun equip time is underway and Epic says that it will be improving the Pump shotgun to make it quicker to bring up. Epic also notes that clingers are more effective than intended and behavior adjustment means they fall to the ground. The effectiveness of building materials has also been tweaked with a clearer division of material strength between metal, brick, and wood.
A slew of performance fixes are in the works as well to improve the experience in 50v50 mode and reduce streaming artifacts like low-resolution buildings and long hitches. Epic is looking into issues with 50v50 mode on iOS and Switch because dropped frames and issues have worsened since the game launched on those platforms. Epic is also working on allowing greater than 1080p resolution on the PS4 Pro when connected to a 4K TV. Any tweaks to Fortnite are a big deal because the game is insanely popular right now, so much so that parents are actually hiring coaches to help their kids get better at the game.
