Fortnite Players On Switch Struggling To Aim With Gyro Controls After Most Recent Update

The game struggles on Switch period. What else is new?

Just copy Splatoon 2, the gold standard in Gyro aiming.

I don't play this game but i still think this is very unfortunate, hopefully it gets fixed quickly.

Glad I'm not the only one. Literally playing now and thought my new joycon got the drift. Recalibrated them and was pulling up NLife on a load screen and saw this article. Lol. Hopefully they fix this soon. Its unplayable.

I mean... I’ve not noticed any issues. People ‘not being able to aim’ is the reason I play on Switch. So much easier than playing on Xbox (and definitely PC).

Sounds like yet another blow to increasingly poor experience Fortnite is on Switch. Even when Fortnite mobile was a thing, Switch was still literally the worst place to play. Why Epic doesn't let Switch (let alone all consoles) have graphic settings to shut off shadows and stuff on PC to help performance is just mindblowing. Played it for 1250 hrs on Switch and when changing to PS4, the changes were insane in spots I didn't even notice there were problems (like ads-ing with a sniper on Switch has a ton of lag). Game is unplayable unless you're doing solos or duos IMO (stay away from helicopters too). Kind of scummy of Nintendo to release this as a promotional pack-in for their special edition Switch coming out. A lot of parent's kids who were on mobile will pry buy it for them not knowing it is a lesser experience to disgusting degree.

That said, I didn't realize that many people used the gyro on Fortnite? It's always been pretty awful.

@Ajent I played Fortnite on Switch for 1250 hrs in the last year...thought I had got pretty decent at the game, not many AI in my lobbies, working hard and winning a lot of Solos and Duos (had to stop Squads in the last 2 seasons due to increasingly poor performance when too many people were fighting on screen). Just switched to PS4 Pro in the last 2 months...and...everyone is so cracked in my lobbies I feel like I'm playing a different game entirely. Everyone in the entire match feels like the last 3 players in a Switch based pool of players. It's been humbling.

@Dang69 Yep! I play mostly on Switch with my lad and it’s a lot more chill. Playing on Xbox or my PS4 is way more sweaty. It’s the better way to play (in terms of both quality and the fact you’ll get a lot better at the game), but I like playing Fortnite as my ‘comfort’ game when I just want to chill.

Its fine. Never turned gyro on

Why would you use motion controls in the first place? It entirely ruins the game!

@Dang69 Yep. I’ve had many an argument with users on the Reddit forum about how bad the Switch version runs. A lot of them think it’s fine, some think Nintendo are in charge of the updates (haha) these are people who like the fact our version of Fortnite runs so poorly, with a unstable FPS of 30 which can reach as low as 1fps because we are easier kills for them.

I have emailed Epic numerous times this week telling them how pathetic the Switch version runs and now I keep getting put into lobbies with PC players who can play the game at over a 100fps I find this to be extremely unfair. The gyro problem is simply the icing on the proverbial cake of many problems of Fortnite on the Nintendo Switch. There is also an audio delay that was brought to their attention which they are yet to address.

@Ajent You’re obviously a troll then. Out of all the console’s and PC platforms the Nintendo Switch has to be by far the worst way to play Fortnite.

Constant frame rate drops, and an audio delay problem as well as ugly visuals. If I get into a box fight with another player, it bombs the frame rate and causes me to lose.

Hearing of Fortnite’s failures amuse me to no end.

Hope this is the beginning of the end of this insufferable franchise.

Epic sucks.
Every new update to this game introduces new more or less game breaking glitches. Zero quality control over there.

@powereat ive got it on pc and switch..... i actually prefer playing on the switch even though the pc version does look better... but in my opinion. not by much. and not enough to ruin gameplay.. continue your argument... its absolutely playable on switch and extremely enjoyable.

It's probably Apple's fault!

@powereat lol. I’M the troll? For having a opinion? How old are you?

I play on Switch because my son plays on Switch. It’s easier on Switch because the player skill level seems lower. Yes, I agree, it isn’t as good as other consoles or PC, but it is far far far from unplayable. Your experience seems localised to you. As you say, you’ve had arguments with other people about it (rather than accepting that it’s probably just your setup?/ other people don’t experience those issues?). I do get the occasional lag spike, but it’s occasional. I probably win 1 out of every 8 games and consistently place in top ten, so it is no way so poor that that it renders it impossible to win build fights.

Read @Dang69 comments. They said that when they started playing on PS4 the skill of the players was ‘humbling’ and that when they played on Switch they consistently won (conversely, they also don’t like the state of the Switch version - so in that regard they seem to agree with you to an extent).

See... discussion. Not flaming people and calling them ‘troll’. That’s how this should work.

At least this isn't as bad as the Tabletop glitch, where keeping your Joy Cons attached disabled any kind of motion controls from the controllers connected wirelessly.

@KnightsTemplar Yikes! Found one of the reddit trolls. You must be terrible at the game for you not to be put into a lobby with PC players, and Epic have admitted in a email there is a problem with the Switch version of Fortnite. You probably don't even play the Switch version of Fortnite, a very common deflective reply you've given me "ThEreS nOtHiNg WrOnG wItH tHe SwItCh VeRsIoN" there is I assure you. Give me your username and I'll see what platform your username is assigned to.

Any Switch player knows when you box fight it murders the frame rate. You're probably one of those players who plays creative, hides behind a tree or in a house and or just puts up a single ramp. Also, had you done some actual research some of the most competitive Fortnite players have said YOU CANNOT PLAY THE GAME AT 30FPS in a competitive environment.

Oh, FYI: I have a mentor who plays on PC and he is very confused why things delay at my end and we tried to learn certain in-game tactics and because the Switch is very underpowered some tactics can't be achieved.

@Ajent Ah, I forgot you're a casual player, perhaps I had a lapse in judgement in my reply and you've probably been put into bot lobbies.

@powereat why would you think that. Im constantly in the top 10.... not sure what the point of your bitchen is. Fortnite is fine on switch... more than good..

@powereat it doesnt make the slightest difference... i never play creative though. i find the switch controlls the easiest to use and find it more fun than pc. I find the pc version just ok but i dont feel as engadged or as involved as i do the switch version... not one to care about fps... And the switch version runs fine. I cross play with xbox and pc all the time... no difference..

@Ajent powereat seems clueless. Im a troll to because switch version works fine and cross plays with pc and xboxs very well.. but dont tell powereat that... he lives in his own vaccume

@KnightsTemplar It does you cretin. But because you can't seem to articulate a sentence without swearing, or using acronyms I assume you're probably below the age of twenty. The fact you cannot be brave enough for me to look at your Fortnite account stats and what platform you play, really discredits everything you've said. As I mentioned in a previous post, a Faze clan member you know, the famous group that's pretty much better than all of us (including you) has said you cannot compete at 30fps. Feel free to look up Faze Sway shows you why you can't compete at 30fps and perhaps do not reply until you provide some factual evidence and stop acting like a tough guy on the internet.

@powereat you’re obviously misinformed (still no reason to be rude!).

“You must be terrible at the game for you not to be put into a lobby with PC players”

“you've probably been put into bot lobbies”

You clearly don’t know how cross-play works on Switch Fortnite. If you play solo, or if your team mates are also on Switch then you only get placed against other Switch lobbies. Only Switch players.

If you have someone from Xbox or PS4 in your team and you’re on Switch, then you get placed in a Console cross-play lobby. If you have someone on your team who is on PC (and you’re still on Switch) then you go into a global cross-play lobby with all consoles and PC.

It works the same for the other consoles and PC as well. Playing solo on any platform puts you in a lobby on that platform only (except PS4 and Xbox, who I believe are both lumped together). Cross-play only comes into effect when you (wait for it, penny is about to drop!) play with friends a-CROSS platforms.

You’re welcome

Edit: PS4 and Xbox are part of the same lobby group.

@Ajent Ah, you absolute genuis! How comes I never thought of that? I must take advantage of that asap. Thank you so much!

@powereat Erm... it’s not something you ‘take advantage of’ or something that ‘I did’.

It’s how the game works. If you’ve been playing solo on Switch then you’ve already been doing it.

@Liam, as a die-hard gyro aimer, it's a bit offensive to be referred to as an "assist." Aim assist is for when the player, controls, or both are terrible and the game has to aim for you. If anything, gyro aiming is giving back more control to the player with less assistance from the game engine.

Oh yes the whole you can't have fun with game if I don't have fun with it argument.

Why is it such a big deal to you all that some people are ok with how it runs on the Switch? I don't play Fortnite but I did dip into it a few times when it came out and yeah it was a bit glitchy but it honestly seems that way on all the consoles to an extent.

@powereat That aduio delay IS STILL GOING ON? That was there when I was still playing the game on Switch weeks ago. Sometimes the audio would even partially cutout so there were no footsteps and stuff. It was awful. They need to rework that version of Fortnite if they plan to still take people's money from the item shop.

@Ajent It's interesting though, yes the playerbase skill level is higher in PS4 pool lobbies...but I've also lost a lot on Switch due to the performance (never ever get in a helicopter). On Switch I felt like I hit a wall because of this. I remember the exact moment I quit the Switch version. I landed outside of Stark's, on the hillside facing out toward Steamy Stacks. Went for a chest nestled by rocks, got a pump shotgun and "Thor" comes out of nowhere and is basically teleporting around and the game is chugging and I literally cannot hit a shot and lose to a pistol. A PISTOL. It felt awful, and I was just done with it. Immediately afterward I linked my PS account and deleted my Switch version. There has been lots of times like that, it got to the point where I had to fight people at a distance because my builds wouldn't come out because the game would give me crazy delays. All the fire animations now have made the game chug worse, etc. So yes, while the player base on Switch is less skilled (I have met some CRACKED Switch kids tho), I've also died some idiotic deaths due to how the games runs on Switch, and that is it'd own kind of depressing. They need to performance options on Switch with the ability to toggle on some of the effects, shadows, shaders, etc. PC players already do it, so it isn't cheating.

@Dang69 I'm at about 400 hours on Switch. I want to play it on my PS4 so so so badly as it does indeed look and play like a completely different game but I just have to have gyro aiming which is not supported on PS4 and to me thats a crying shame, seeing as the duelshock has gyro tech in it. I literally don't know how people can hit anything with stick aiming. Any advice?

@KnightsTemplar I don't get how you could "not care that much about FPS" in a competitive shooter that (on Switch) regularly tanks down to 17-15 FPS. The game at that point barely works. This isn't a solo adventure game or something.

@chronicles I'm right there with you bro. Gyro is a MUST for any shooter. Period.

@Dang69 I can see how that would ruin the game. I’ve had a few instances like that, especially with builds not being as snappy as I’d like. It just doesn’t happen to me enough that it ruins the game for. Although I only have around 600hrs on Switch (probably another 100-150hrs split between Xbox and PS4), so my base for comparison is not as deep as yours.

I would love them to optimise it a bit more.

@Ajent As your lobbies get harder and all the kids are flip dipping around at faster and faster speeds, those little delays become BIG problems. At a certain point builds not being snappy means you'll get shot "thru" walls and stuff. Here's a few tips on how to increase performance.

1) This is obvious but, make sure you're using a lan adapter for your Switch and plugging directly into your router. The Switch wifi is actually awful, even if you have good wifi and it is close to your router. 2) Change your system output to 720p versus 1080. You'll notice a boost in performance. It's not a total game changer, but it helps. It'll make it harder to see stuff in the distance, but the tradeoff is completely worth it. 3) NEVER EVER use any animated backpacks (even capes) or character skins that have animations, or a lot of fabric physics to them (even avoid the ones with little flame or smoke details). In fact I stopped equipping a backpack entirely. 4) Stop playing Squads and do Duos or Solos. I feel like this point is the strongest. It really makes the game more manageable.

@invictus4000 Yup. Gyro support on Switch is so inconsistent--huge dead zones, weird option locks, terrible sensitivity--I ended up building a new gaming PC so I can play shooters with the Pro Controller through Steam Input. Still a huge pain getting it to work there, but at least it's possible in most cases.

@Dang69 Gyro in fortnite before this update was acutally quite good once you got used to it. The performance also got a lot better then it was before, recently physics was enabled aswell so if your character has any "loose" parts like ponytail or pieces of cloth hanging around, it finally actually moves like it should instead of just lookin awkward so yes the performence is aslo a lot better than it used to be imo

@invictus4000 I never played with gyro on Switch (outside of a couple matches) because I figured that someday I might graduate to a system or whatever that may not support it and didn't wanna rely on it, PLUS every cracked kid in the game told me not to use it, lol. I have a good "older-good-dude-streamer-voice" apparently and in matches over all the hours I'd play I'd just pick people's brains on what their settings were, people always shared because they liked how my voice sounded, lol. In al those matches I never met another Switch player that used gyro (at least those who were talking with me). I always thought it would make sense for fast edits and stuff...but I think I can see why a lot of people don't use it. For example, I could easily see how it would make long distance shots, particularly sniping REALLY nice. But for flick shots with a pump or close range spraying, there really isn't time for the adjustment from motion, it really needs to be done in one fast input from your stick. It's more about how fast your raw input, so having complete stability while holding your controller and relying on stick movement while your quickly moving around SEEMS better, like you have better all around control. But more importantly, I think aim assist with motion controls got heavily nerfed or removed correct, last year? If that's the case, you're playing at a huge disadvantage for when someone drops into your box. I don't even see how motion controls could help at that close of range. Cuz the thing is, and this is all my opinion from someone who has not really used motion, when I die in the game now, it is from upclose build/box fighting. I tailor my settings to that. You're not going to die that often from long distance fighting anyways, and with the past spray meta being nerfed, mid range distance fights allow for another time to protect yourself with some builds. So I've found it preferable to tailor my sensitives to what makes me more efficient up close. Curious as to your experience. Also I listed a couple tips above for improving performance on Switch if you're curious.

@Vepra I found that the added physics hurt the performance in the game. Cuz, lets say you're hot and heavy in a squad versus another 2 squads. If everyone has added physics to their characters that's all the more the game has to process. I only stopped playing on Switch like...I think it's actually been a month now. I stopped equipping capes and backpack bling anything or a bunch of physics and animations and found it helpful. You can test it too when youre dropping. Try equipping a simple umbrella glider versus something like Batman's cape glider. A difference of 6 to eight frames (yeah you are seeing a larger FOV and that factors into the performance, but it's a nice face to simulate a TON of stuff going on in a big battle).

@Dang69 I quite frequently play squads with one of my friend on Xbox and other on PC (No fill, just the three of us) and we do manage to get a win every now and then and I haven't really struggeled in a team fights. If I did it certainly wasnt bad enough for me to even remember tbh

Yep, I’ve encountered the issue. It feels like it sticks when you wanna focus a target. I’ve used motion for two years on this game : ) plus it makes it super difficult for far away shooting, Epic should hopefully fix this.

@JR150 The game struggles on everything period. What else is new?

My issue with the game has been the audio cutting out, and being at times up to almost 1minute out of sync. And also stuttering cause many issues with aiming. Not sure if I'm alone on that but it's been a real pane of late. Don't play with gyro so I can't speak to that.

I wish Epic would give more attention and care to the switch version but I don't see it happening. It's not a community that makes them money like PC or even the other consoles.

Hard to work on your games when you're spending all your time, money, and energy chasing down ridiculous lawsuits.

@KnightsTemplar same. got all the mythics in one game.