It’s easy to zap your battery by leaving games running in the background while you scroll on your phone or grab some food. You tell yourself you’re just stepping away for a minute and, before you know it, you’ve been on TikTok for an hour.
To help you save power while procrastinating, developer Epic Games has introduced a handy new setting for Fortnite. The studio’s biggest game now comes with a new Sleep mode designed to preserve energy without completely derailing your session.
However, not everyone is thrilled with the new option, with some fans taking issue with how it’s presented.
Here’s what you need to know about the new feature, which was introduced with the game’s latest update (v31.30) on October 1.
What is Fortnite sleep mode?
At its core, Fortnite’s sleep mode is quite similar to the low-power function on your smartphone. The setting, which is turned on by default, disables the features that hog the most juice on your phone, console or PC.
When the game enters sleep mode, voice chat is paused to maintain battery life, which is especially useful on mobile devices, and your status is changed to "away" for other party members.
Fortnite Sleep Mode pic.twitter.com/Ub7YLlvXhp
— iFireMonkey (@iFireMonkey) October 1, 2024
By cancelling matchmaking, the game stops searching for new matches, thereby helping to lower power consumption from network activity.
Following the latest update, sleep mode is automatically set to activate after 15 minutes of inactivity. When this happens, a timer will take over the screen, giving you the option to jump back in before the game begins snoozing. The llama that pops up during the countdown is enough to make even the most cynical gamer crack a smile.
After a few seconds, the screen will turn blue and display a message informing you that Fortnite has gone to sleep, with the option to press any button to start playing again.
While in this state of hibernation, the game uses only the essential functions it needs so it can quickly resume gameplay when you return. That way, you won’t get logged out or have to boot up the game again.
Can you turn off Fortnite sleep mode?
You can access the new controls in the “energy saving” section of the game’s settings tab. Here, you can turn sleep mode off completely or set it to a different time limit, ranging from five minutes to an hour.
What are people saying about it?
The biggest gripe that people have with the option is its placement. Alongside the settings tab, a new sleep mode button is now located above the “return to lobby” button when you go to exit a game.
Many users are complaining this has resulted in them accidentally selecting it. Currently, this change only affects users playing with controllers and not those using a keyboard and mouse combo.
Can we all agree that this sleep mode thing is the worst fortnite update 💀#Fortnite pic.twitter.com/vXpF19qfTF
— Spirky (@Spirky2581) October 1, 2024
When you’re in the lobby, the button is also the only option available if you want to “exit”, meaning you can’t manually close Fortnite from within the game on certain platforms – all you can do is put it in sleep mode.
Still, at least you can close it by using the controls on your console, like the PlayStation options tab – so you won’t be stuck playing Fortnite forever.
the fact that Fortnite got to the point where they had to add a SLEEP MODE and I click on it every time trying to back out is insane… pic.twitter.com/b1gIpmESOw
— MoMo (@momofnbr1_) October 2, 2024
To make matters worse, there’s currently a bug with the feature that could land kids in hot water with parents. As revealed by the official Fortnite Status account on X, time spent in Sleep Mode currently counts towards your overall game time for accounts without time-limit controls enabled.
Epic says it’s working on a fix for the issue, but is warning parents to be aware of the glitch in the meantime.
Until now, Fortnite has mainly focused on kicking idle players out of ongoing matches to ensure the game remains as thrillingly competitive as possible.
While sleep mode may have some spill-over effects for AFK (“away from keyboard”) players, it’s mainly aimed at conserving your battery – and maybe even saving you some money. But, judging by the reaction online, it seems to need some work.
