Fortnite fans believe that game developer Epic Games has actually relaxed its rules regarding the depiction of male nudity, as the first fully detailed in-game art has already been spotted.
The shirtless recent Chapter 7 Battle Pass skin, Carter Wu, features a relatively detailed nipple on the character’s chest – a first in Fortnite’s nearly ten-year history.
The news comes just a few weeks after fans noticed two distinctive dots on the chest of a panty-clad Homer Simpson in Fortnite and began to wonder whether the game’s long-term decision not to show nipples had been reconsidered.
At the time, Homer’s nipple design was being debated as a potential exception to Fortnite’s no-nipple rule – perhaps due to licensing requirements or because his cel-shaded model was lacking in detail.
However, the appearance of a standard Fortnite skin now – clearly available in the first Chapter 7 Battle Pass – suggests otherwise and indicates that more nipples are likely to appear in Fortnite in the future.
In the past, everyone from Travis Scott to Kratos from God of War, Aang from Avatar: The Last Airbender, WWE’s John Cena, Goku from Dragonball Z, and Marvel superheroes like Drax and Hulk have appeared in Fortnite topless, with velvety chests and no nipples. Even modes created by third-party developers have been made nippleless, thanks to a high-profile promotional crossover with the Philips body shaver brand with a smooth-chested model.
Could Epic Games now re-add nipples to previous skins, restoring characters like Kratos to their full glory? We’ll have to wait and see. IGN has frequently reached out to Epic Games regarding Fortnite’s previous no-nipple policy for more details, though it has yet to receive an official statement on the matter.
Tom Phillips is IGN’s news editor. You can contact Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
