Fortnite’s new Simple Build is great for casual players, but it may hurt competitive play

Competitive Fortnite is going strong in 2026, and Epic Games is trying to bring even more new players into the exciting battle royale by adding accessibility features. Simple Build is the latest attempt, which allows players to construct complicated structures with only two buttons.

Building has always been Fortnite’s most interesting, yet also controversial feature, causing Epic to add a zero-build option to the game. Simple Build appears to have the potential to revolutionise building across the board, but it could also negatively impact competitive play in the long term.

Simple Build is a setting that players can turn on to simplify the process of creating structures in Fortnite: Battle Royale. Instead of having individual buttons for ramps, floors, and ceilings, competitors can use Simple Build to simplify the building process down to two buttons.

With Simple Build turned on, players have a button assigned for walls and a separate button for every other type of structure, like floors. Fortnite automatically determines which piece you want to build based on the direction you look, so looking downward would create a floor, while looking upward would create a ceiling.

Simple Edit also streamlines the process by letting players edit whatever they’re looking at in-game. Simplifying the process to two buttons makes Fortnite’s building system much less reliant on complicated muscle memory and streamlines it for new players, as opposed to relying on extensive Fortnite keybinds for building.

We’ve compiled the main pros and cons of Simple Build below, including why it may cause issues for competitive play and esports.

Simple Build transforms the building mechanic into a much simpler version, perfect for gamers trying Fortnite for the first time. Defence is much easier for new players, as Simple Build scales the entire process down to two buttons.

Though Simple Build is fun for casual or new players, it isn’t available in Fortnite’s most competitive modes. Simple Build is also slower and more cumbersome, so executing advanced building tricks isn’t as viable.

Simple Build may hurt competitive play in the long term because it simplifies the Fortnite building process, which also makes it harder to build 90s, tunnels, and other advanced structures in some instances. Individual piece control is significantly more challenging when a single button controls multiple structures, and learning to play using Simple Build will inevitably create a generation of players who are unfamiliar with the standard setting.

For now, both Simple Build and Simple Edit are disabled in Fortnite: Battle Royale’s most competitive modes, like tournaments. As such, learning how to build this way is a disservice to new players, even if it is helpful at first. Additionally, if Simple Build ever enters actual esports in the future, building could become less interesting to watch, as there are significant limitations on piece control.

Simple Build is a fantastic feature for new players who want to explore the basics of building in Fortnite. However, many players will likely get so comfortable with the streamlined option that they won’t want to stop using it, which may make it harder for the next generation of Fortnite players to transfer into esports and ranked play.

If you can become skilled with the standard way of Fortnite building, you’ll have significantly more options when trying to pull off advanced techniques during the heat of combat. There’s nothing wrong with Simple Build on the surface, though it’s clear that it might create a player base that can’t perform the same advanced techniques, making esports much less interesting to watch.