Innersloth Protests Epic Games Without Permission Brings Among Us Mode To Fortnite

Among Us takes a lot of inspiration from the party game Mafia (photo: Fortnite)

JAKARTA - Epic Games has just added a game mode similar to Among Us in Fortnite. However, the developers of Among Us (Innersloth) flocked to protest this.

Innersloth community director Victoria Tran responded on her official Twitter account, saying "it would be really, really cool to collaborate" making clear that the idea of Among Us crossing over to Fortnite was not the case.

On the other hand, Tran was disappointed that Epic Games had stepped in without contacting Innersloth at all. Tran explained the idea that Epic Games was good enough to bring the mechanics of Among Us into the game, but Tran asked that if there wasn't an initial agreement with the developers, it would be better if Epic came up with a different theme and terminology than Among Us.

"What's the point of a company like Epic adding story ideas like Among Us (without any attribution or reward). It feels exactly like being a woman/POC in technology," said Tran as quoted from Game Rant, Thursday, August 18.

Innersloth programmer Gary Porter also made a post on Twitter, though they took a different approach. Porter posted a comparison between the Among Us The Skeld map and the Impostors Fortnite map, Loop Control, which resulted in a similarity that was difficult to tell apart.

"It's okay even if they flip the power and the medbay and connect security to the cafeteria," Porter said.

Likewise, Among Us designer Marcus Bromander suggested that it is better to collaborate and share only 10 percent of the income, rather than presenting the Among Us game mode without permission.

“We did not patent the Among Us mechanism. I don't think it leads to a healthy gaming industry. Is it really that hard to put in 10 percent more effort to do your own laps," said Bromander as quoted by Slashgear.

Indeed, it is known that Among Us takes a lot of inspiration from the Mafia party game also known as Werewolf, such as tasks that players must complete and other methods of sabotage.

Fortnite's announcement of the Impostors mode has definitely been a topic of conversation at Innersloth. Animator Jake Clark also posted a meme in which the Fortnite Impostors teaser had his character painted and renamed "amogus."

It's easy to see why Innersloth is frustrated with this situation. However, the developers of Innersloth couldn't do more because they were a small team, whereas Epic Games had a very large legal team. There is no real recourse available to Innersloth other than calling attention to this problem.

So far, Epic Games has not responded to the riots on Twitter. However, whether Epic Games will also change the Fortnite Impostors following this criticism, but many suspect will not change.