What Is Cosmetic Gating in Fortnite?

Fortnite and Epic Games announced in a blog post that they will shut down their Cosmetic Gating system with the v28.00 patch on December 3. This change comes as a response to massive fan backlash over how Fortnite planned to handle age-restricted skins.

What was Cosmetic Gating in Fortnite?

For those out of the loop, Cosmetic Gating in Fortnite is a system where every cosmetic in the game receives an age rating. This means that players cannot use certain skins on islands below a certain age rating threshold. As such, if a player tries to equip such a skin on the wrong island, it would be replaced. As a side note, this update included cosmetics such as backpacks and pickaxes.

The update came alongside several additions to the game’s age restrictions, giving parents more agency over what their children played. Therefore, Islands and Experiences within Fortnite’s Creative Mode received specific age ratings. When a game on Creative Mode was marked as teen or up(or regional equivalent), younger players need parental approval to play it.

As stated above, fans swiftly responded to this update with harsh backlash, calling it one of the worst updates in the history of Fortnite. For example, fans pointed out that Halloween mascot Michael Myers was uncensored, while other skins were restricted.

Below is a list of some of the skins that have become unavailable due to the new age-restriction policy:

• Agent Peely
• Black Widow
• Cloud Striker
• Claire Redfield
• Demogorgon
• Doctor Doom
• Deadpool
• Gunnar
• Leon S Kennedy
• Lara Croft
• Meowscles
• Midas
• Mincemeat
• Nitehare
• Nolan Chance
• Predator
• Rebirth Harley Quinn
• Reese
• Rook
• Sgt Winter
• Stoneheart
• TNTina
• The Visitor
• Xenomorph
• Yellowjacket
• Zadie

What will Change with this Update?

This update will get rid of Cosmetic Gating in Fortnite entirely for the time being. Epic Games has clarified that they will continue investigating age restrictions for the game’s future. Epic has also added that “less than ten” outfits would be playable only on teen islands, yet did not specify which. 

While this will remove Cosmetic Gating on islands in creative mode, Epic said nothing of removing age restrictions on islands.

Fortnite is available on the PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X, Nintendo Switch, Windows PC, and mobile devices.