Following the Fortnite update version 18.20, Epic Games made a startling admission. In a post on the game’s official website detailing the new update, the post states “v.18.20 brings improvements to Impostors, the game mode inspired by Among Us from Innersloth!”
This comes as a surprise because while Epic Games never claimed their idea was original, they sidestepped the controversy surrounding the mode’s announcement two months ago. Shortly after the Impostors mode was unveiled, members of the Innersloth development team expressed their discontent on Twitter. They were understandably upset, feeling it was unfair that such a large studio would take an idea from a smaller company.
To some on the team, it felt like an impossible hill to climb in such a competitive industry. Even Innersloth’s co-founder joined in on the discussion, stating that the reason he didn’t patent Among Us’ mechanics was because he didn’t believe it’s healthy for the game industry. He followed that up by saying “Is it really that hard to put 10% more effort into putting your own spin on it though?”
Epic Games didn’t make any official statements on the situation when the mode was revealed. This is in stark contrast to Epic’s initial Battle Royale announcement, which namedropped PUBG in the announcement post itself.
