Keen eyed viewers spotted a Launch Pad in the background of the Fortnite TIE Whisper Glider trailer and think it may be a sign.
On Thursday evening, the Microsoft Theatre in Los Angeles hosted the 2019 Game Awards ceremony. The event was filled with trailers for new releases, surprises and of course the celebration of the gaming industry.
Of three total nominations, Fortnite took home just one award. They beat out titles like Apex Legends and Destiny 2 for “Best Ongoing Game”. World Cup sensation Kyle “Bugha” Giersdorf also added to his rapidly growing trophy collection, winning in the “Best Esports Player” category.
Cheesin with @Ninja pic.twitter.com/gra2Mof2WW
— Bugha (@bugha) December 13, 2019
However, for much of the Fortnite community, the awards were not the main focus of the night. Many excitedly tuned in after Epic Games teased that a big announcement would be made. Anticipation was high, with players speculating a potential World Cup 2020 reveal or some other huge news, similar to previous years. Unfortunately though, a lot of fans were left feeling disappointed.
Epic’s Creative Director, Donald Mustard, joined host Geoff Keighley onstage for a chat. Mustard wasn’t giving much away, but the announcement turned out to be a tad more info on the Star Wars crossover coming this Saturday. He revealed that the in-game event would be interactive, and that The Rise of Skywalker Director J.J. Abrams would be directly involved. A trailer was then displayed which revealed that all those in attendance at Risky Reels will receive a free TIE Fighter themed glider.
For many, this was highly underwhelming. We already knew about the Star Wars screening and although the free glider is a nice touch, we were expecting more from announcement. However, there was one thing that sparked optimism amongst Fortniters on Twitter and Reddit.
As highlighted by EU star Kyle “Mongraal” Jackson amongst others, there appears to be a Launch Pad visible in the background of the trailer. This has caused debate within the community over the potential return of this popular item. Concerns have been bubbling since the beginning of Fortnite Chapter 2 over the lack of mobility available this season. For most of us, the Launch Pad coming back seems like the perfect solution.
Launchpad in trailer pic.twitter.com/daKcuGCTtL
— code mongraal #ad ?? (@Mongraal) December 13, 2019
Whilst some are hopeful that the Launch Pad cameo was a sign, others are less confident. They feel that it was simply there in order to trigger the redeploy animation and allow the clip of the TIE Whisper glider in action to be recorded. Launch Pads are still available in Creative mode, so it’s not like they had completely vanished and this shows them reappearing.
The v11.30 patch this week featured the biggest content switch up since the Black Hole event, including the addition of multiple items to the loot pool. Perhaps this is an indication that the developers are going to start upping the rate of changes and move closer to the regular update schedule that we became accustomed to in Chapter 1. Keep your fingers crossed and maybe Launch Pads will be back by Christmas.