Epic Games Investigated Invisible Fortnite Sidekick Bug

Epic Games has acknowledged an issue rendering scriptable Sidekick NPCs invisible on creator-made islands.

Updated on Oct. 1, 2026 in eSports

Graphic illustration of glowing, fragmented digital silhouettes of character forms suspended in a dark, neon-lit grid space, representing a gaming technical glitch. — Epic Games is investigating a technical bug causing scriptable NPCs to vanish on custom Fortnite islands while retaining their collision properties. AI Illustration. Upload story photo >

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Epic Games has launched an investigation into a technical bug that causes Sidekick NPCs to vanish on player-created islands within Fortnite. The issue, which affects gameplay on both PC and Nintendo Switch 2, keeps the NPCs functional despite their lack of visibility.

Why it matters

The bug disrupts the functionality of custom islands that rely on scriptable NPCs for complex gameplay and interactive experiences. As developers continue to build using these tools, ensuring the stability of UEFN live sessions remains critical to the Fortnite ecosystem.

The bug was officially logged in the v42.30 known-issues thread. Epic Games is currently testing the behavior of scriptable Sidekick NPCs across multiple creator-made islands on PC and Nintendo Switch 2.

The players

Epic Games

Epic Games is the software developer and publisher behind the battle royale title Fortnite.

The details

Developers utilize Verse code and NPC Spawners to create these characters, but they currently appear missing during live UEFN sessions. Despite being invisible, the affected characters retain their collision properties and despawn effects, causing confusion for players and creators alike.

Epic Games introduced scriptable Sidekick NPCs in June 2026.
Islands featuring the Sidekick capability became publishable on July 23, 2026.
The invisible NPC bug was acknowledged by Epic Games on October 1, 2026.

Roadmap

This issue highlights the complex integration of the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN) framework into the broader game ecosystem. It underscores the challenges developers face when maintaining stable, high-performance character scripts across diverse hardware like the Nintendo Switch 2 and PC.

Creators using custom islands may experience broken interactions until a patch is released for their specific NPC spawners. Players on PC and Nintendo Switch 2 should be aware that these invisible entities still possess collision properties during active gameplay.

The takeaway

Creators should closely monitor the known-issues thread for updates regarding the restoration of visual assets for scriptable NPCs. Maintaining backups of island code can help developers revert changes until a definitive fix for the v42.30 bug is deployed.