It’s Chapter 4, Season 1 in Fortnite, and following the update in December 2022, many changes, improvements, and new features were included in the update. One feature that was revised was the spectator aspect of the game.
Back in the day, spectating a Fortnite showdown of a Battle Royal was as simple as just clicking the “Watch” tab, and bang, you’re in and observing some of the best skilled Fortnite players in the game and learning new tricks and traits from them.
Sadly, some sore losers who exited the battle early tried to sabotage the event by stream sniping. Due to players interfering after death, the dev team thought it best to remove the Watch function. But now, players eager to learn and fans wanting to enjoy the fun want to know if there’s still a way to watch your favourite Fortnite player.
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If you’re one of the curious folks who’d like to know if there’s a way to get in on the action without being part of the action, then read the rest of this post and learn more.
Can You Spectate in Fortnite?
To find out how to spectate in-game, we first need to determine if we can spectate after it was removed as a feature. The answer to this is a BIG YES! You can watch friends play and random players in Fortnite Chapter 4, Season 1, for as long as you’d like, and here’s how.
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How to Spectate in Fortnite
Due to the earlier stream sniping, Epic Games have made it harder to get into a game as a spectator. Below are the two methods to watch friends or randoms in Fortnite 2023.
How to Spectate a Friend’s Battle
To sit back and watch friends play in Fortnite, you must have one of your friends participating in the game send you a party invitation to the game. While waiting in the pre-game lobby, ask your mate to send you a party invite to the game.
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Once you’ve received the invite from your mate, accept it and wait a minute for it to load. After it’s loaded, you should be allowed into the game where your buddies are battling.
When this transpires, and after being granted access, you’ll notice the “Ready Button” in the bottom corner will switch to “Watch”. Click on Watch and, poof, just like that, you’re enjoying the action as a bystander, just like in the good old days.
All of the abovementioned shouldn’t take you longer than a minute, and if it does take longer than the estimated time, you can try one of two things:
- A quick fix trick: If the Ready tab doesn’t switch to Watch after three to four minutes, press the Ready tab once, cancel with Ready Up, and repeat all the above steps, starting with the party invite.
- OG fix for any game: If option one fails, do the traditional thing and log out of Fortnite, log back in, repeat all the steps above, and keep your fingers crossed that it works this time.
Important note: For this to work, the friend sending the party invitation must be active in the battle arena. It will not work if your friend hasn’t joined the active game.
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Reasons why the loading time could be delayed:
- If there’s more than one friend in the pre-lobby, it might cause a delayed load-up time,
- Loss of internet connection or slow internet connection, or
- The friend that sent the invite hasn’t entered the game yet.
How to Spectate Random Players in Fortnite
Firstly, watching battles without a party invitation is impossible. The only way to watch strangers and unknown players is by entering the game and being taken out immediately.
Once you’ve been killed from the encounter, hit the spectate button and start observing the game from your killer’s point of view until they are killed. You’ll continue to switch perspectives and spectate until there’s a winner.
There you have it: all you need to know about how to spectate in Fortnite 2023.
For more from Prima Games, you can read: Where to Find the Burst Rifle in Fortnite Chapter 4
