What Is An Illegal Restart In Fortnite?

An overview of what an illegal restart is and how it could result in a Fortnite account ban.

In Fortnite, there are a variety of error notices, warnings, and notifications that can sometimes be hard to decipher, especially if you’ve never seen them before. Among the warnings going around is one referencing an “illegal restart” which notes that if you repeat the offense, your account could be banned. 

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It sounds serious, and it is. Fortunately, most players won’t have to worry about this unless they decide to enter competitive tournaments, and even then, they’d need to manipulate tournament entry.

To further explain what an illegal restart is, when the illegal restart warning is most commonly issued, and whether your account can actually be banned as a result, we’ve put together a guide overview guide. Here’s what you need to know! 

What Is An Illegal Restart In Fortnite?

The quick answer to the question of what an illegal restart is in Fortnite is that it’s a form of cheating primarily used during competitive tournaments.

Illegal restarts allow a player to re-enter a competitive tournament after loss or disqualification, thereby giving them another chance at winning. 

For example, a person seeking an illegal restart may try to manipulate their IP address to access Fortnite’s servers from a different location, which could be paired with playing under a secondary account.

With the IP change and the use of a different account, it’ll look like a completely different person is competing in the tournament for the first time. 

No matter what workaround is used though, the “illegal restart” offense boils down to a Fortnite player participating in a tournament with rules that explicitly state you can only participate once, and manipulating things so they can participate a second time, or more. 

If you get an “illegal restart” warning and you genuinely weren’t aware that what you were doing is against the rules, you won’t have to worry too much… the first time.

The official warning text reads: 

“Due to your recent actions, you have been issued a competitive warning for Illegal Restart. Please refrain from repeat offenses or you may receive an account ban.” 

With the way the warning has been written, it seems like as long as you don’t continue to use illegal restart techniques to re-enter competitive tournaments after receiving the illegal restart warning, your account should be safe from a ban. 

It doesn’t appear as though bans are being issued on the first offense, you should receive a warning first before action is taken.

That said, this is something Epic Games is working hard to get competitive tournaments under stricter control as indicated by their recent Terms and Conditions update. In it, they’ve made it clear that illegal restarts aren’t allowed.

And yes, even if you were using illegal restarts before without harmful intent, or used them in the past without issue and don’t see what the big deal is, the writing is now clear. 

Epic Games will ban your account if you continue to use illegal restarts to re-enter competitive tournaments. 

Hopefully this clears up any confusion. If you still have questions, feel free to reach out to the Prima team on our social media channels including Facebook and Twitter

Related: Fortnite’s New Limited-Time Mode Mando’s Bounty Is Now Live


 


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Author
Morgan Shaver
Morgan is a writer, metalhead, horror lover, and indie game enthusiast. When it comes to games, they love nothing more than to wax poetic about all the latest and greatest indies to anyone who'll listen. They're also a Tetris fanatic who's fiercely competitive in games like Tetris 99... and all games in general. But mostly Tetris. You can follow Morgan on Twitter @Author_MShaver