Season 8 is finally here and it looks like Kevin the Cube - a Fortnite fan-favourite... Cube - is back on The Island to cause chaos after the exciting Sky Fire event. There are new Craftable Weapons available, a new Victory Umbrella up for grabs, and a new feature that has everyone talking. Funding Stations have been added to Fortnite and we have everything you need to know about what they are and where you can find them.
WHAT? - What do Funding Stations even do?
Fortnite's Funding Stations are, for lack of a better word, poll booths. They might look like information boards, but they're much more than that.
When you find one, players can actually donate Gold Bars into the yellow Deposit Box next to them to cast a vote on what should be added to Fortnite next. This can be a new weapon, a returning vaulted weapon, or an item. Essentially, it looks like Epic Games is offering more agency to players who want to see the return of their favourite weapons.
Fortnite data miner iFireMonkey has shared the following images of what you might see on the Funding Station board when you stumble across one in-game:
You can see J.B. Chimpanski there, too - One of Fortnite's newest Original Characters - and he'll have something to say every time you interact with a Funding Station too. He's a General organising the war effort against the Cubes in Season 8 - So, he clearly needs some financial aid if he's turned to Funding Stations.
Epic Games has shared the following via PlayStation:
" When we said it will take the effort of everyone to win this war, we meant it. How can you contribute to the war effort? There’ll be a variety of ways throughout the Season, but to start, players in the community can donate Bars to the construction sites where they’d like to see Turret Stations built. Later on, it’ll be up to the community to help decide which new weapons to develop, which ones to unvault, and more."
We should find out more about how these work on a larger scale as we continue into Season 8. At the moment, we're not too sure how long the "voting period" will be and whether the changes made will be permanent or temporary. Gold Bars are a valuable resource in Fortnite, so it'll be interesting to see whether the community will be willing to part with them for something like this.
WHERE? - They're just everywhere, really...
At the moment, we're under the impression that Fortnite's Funding Stations are... Well, everywhere. At the moment, players are finding Funding Stations near almost every main named location on Fortnite Island.
What's interesting, though, is that it looks like different Funding Stations are going to show different things. With "Turret Stations" due to be added at key locations - thanks, J.B. Chimpanski - you should find that some Funding Stations are showcasing this "voting option" while others are showing a "weapon vs weapon" option.
Again, we don't know for sure just yet but Season 8 has just started. There's plenty of time to work out how Epic Games is trying to keep Fortnite fresh going forwards.