Epic Games now credits Among Us' Innersloth as inspiration for Fortnite's Impostors mode
UPDATE: Twitter brandter hints at official collab.
UPDATE 18.31pm: Now that Epic has finally acknowledged the source of its 'inspiration' for Fortnite's social-deduction-in-space Impostors mode, the brandter has begun in earnest on Twitter, pointing to an official collaboration with Among Us and its developer Innersloth.
In response to a tweet announcing Fortnite's 18.20 update (which also credited Among Us as the inspiration for Imposters), Innersloth offered up a googly-eye emoji before the official Fornite account swept in with a, "Hey @AmongUsGame! Since you're here we've got something we wanted to ask you."
A little more forced chumminess follows in the insufferable manner of these things, but it all ends in an affirmative from Innersloth after Epic writes, "Big fans! We never got to talk about how you inspired us. What do you think about working on something fun together sometime?".
The exchange is certainly a world away from Innersloth's initial response to the surprise announcement of Fortnite's Imposter mode back in August, when the development team variously said it was "sad", "pretty bummed", and "kind of offended" at the news. What - other than, I don't know, a giant wad of Fortnite money - could possibly have changed since then?
Following Epic's initial hat tip to Among Us earlier today, Innersloth's community director Victoria Tran told Eurogamer, "We got in touch with Epic - it's cool to see them acknowledging their inspiration now. Who knows what the future will hold!".
ORIGINAL STORY 11.11am: Epic Games has acknowledged Among Us developer Innersloth as inspiration for Fortnite's fun but familiar Impostors mode.
Fortnite Impostors launched back in August, as a limited-time mode for up to 10 players. It's a carbon copy of Among Us' Murder-in-the-Dark-style gameplay, rebuilt by Epic into a flashier 3D experience where you can play as your favourite Fortnite characters.
The mode has proved popular, and unlike other some of Epic's other game riffs (such as Fortnite's homage to Crazy Taxi) Imposters appears to be sticking around. Today brings new updates to the mode - and Epic's acknowledgement of its origins.
In a blog posted today detailing Fortnite's new v18.20 patch, Epic notes the update "brings improvements to Impostors, the game mode inspired by Among Us from Innersloth!"
We've checked in-game and this line doesn't appear to have been added there - just on Epic's blog.
As for what's new, a Role Bias feature will let you choose whether you'd prefer to be an Agent or Impostor, although your choice is not always guaranteed. Open voice chat has also been added, split Among Us-like into those who are/aren't eliminated.
Back when Impostors launched, the mode sparked criticism from numerous Innersloth developers. Members of the indie studio variously said they were "sad", "pretty bummed", and "kind of offended". The team also said it had been attempting some kind of Fortnite collaboration.
We've contacted both Epic and Innersloth today to find out if any behind the scenes progress has been made.