Epic Games Bans Thousands Of Fortnite Players After Delulu Proximity Chat Backfires
New mode marred by toxicity as players report a wave of sexist comments and slurs.
We all knew this was coming. Epic flipped on Fortnite's new proximity chat experiment, Delulu, for everyone this weekend and immediately started swinging the ban hammer. A lot.
What Delulu is (and why the name is doing a lot)
Delulu is a limited-time mode built around proximity voice chat. You can ally with strangers on the fly, cut side deals, or backstab your new best friend for the win. When it was limited to creators with codes, the clips were charming chaos: players roleplaying as Solid Snake, others opening little pop-up shops and handing out guns and heals. Cute, clever, very streamer-bait.
Then it went public
On Friday, Epic opened Delulu to everyone and told players to rat out bad actors fast so moderation could keep up.
"Hope you're enjoying Delulu!"
"If you're hearing anything that violates our rules, report it in-game using 'Report Conversation' in the sidebar. Moderation is on it! We're moving faster and stricter to catch troublemakers."
The rules themselves are the usual: don't use voice chat to bully, harass, discriminate, or do anything else gross or abusive.
The ban wave hit immediately
By Sunday, Sep 21, 2025, Epic followed up with a blunt status update:
"Thousands banned already this weekend."
They also re-upped how to file a voice report so moderation has receipts:
- Open the Sidebar and head to the Voice Chat tab
- Select 'Report Conversation'
- Confirm what happened
- Hit 'Submit' so the team can act on it
How it felt in the wild
Social posts tell a pretty clear story. One player said they tried to earn the Delulu umbrella and instead ran into a wall of sexist comments and slurs. Several creators noted the creator-only phase was almost wholesome, but once the doors opened to the full playerbase, voice chat got flooded with slurs—especially rough if you're a woman. Another user summed up the vibe as exactly what you would expect: misogynistic dudes, screaming kids, and way too many people who think slurs are punchlines.
Not everyone had a nightmare time. For what it's worth, my own lobbies were fine—mostly chill, surprisingly helpful. But the volume of complaints plus Epic admitting to thousands of bans in two days says the safety net still has holes.
What happens next
Delulu is scheduled for one more run: Sep 26 at 6am PT / 9am ET / 2pm BST through Sep 29 at the same time. If Epic wants this to be more than a one-off novelty (and not a toxicity speedrun), the current 'faster and stricter' approach will need to keep scaling. The mode can be delightful when the social contract holds. It just needs guardrails sturdy enough for, well, the internet.