Fortnite Leaks Point to Pet-Like Companions, Including a Selection of Dogs and a Skateboarding Turtle

Fortnite is set to add pet-like cosmetic “Companions” to its battle royale, a series of fresh leaks suggest. Initial designs include a range of dogs, as well as a turtle on a skateboard.

Datamined images sourced from yesterday’s new Fortnite season update show what looks to be a golden retriever, a pair of pugs, a robot dog based on the game’s iconic Cuddle Team Leader, and the aforementioned skateboard-wielding aquatic reptile.

Fortnite fans have been aware of plans by developer Epic Games to release pet-like Companions for some time, based on bits of evidence dug up and posted online from past datamines. But today is our first glimpse at the Companions themselves, from what look to be user interface icons for them.

If Fortnite having pets sounds familiar, well, that’s because the game technically has them already. During the early years of Fortnite battle royale, at least, the game offered “Pets” — animated animals — that you wore as a “backbling”, or essentially like a rucksack.

Around a dozen or so of these Pets were released, usually within battle passes, with later designs becoming slightly more elaborate (a floating mind-controlling alien named Choppy is a personal fave, alongside a licensed Baby Yoda). But more recent years have seen Pets left by the wayside, despite fan calls for their return.

Now, Epic Games is believed to be working on Companions as a far more evolved version of Pets, with the creatures able to scamper around in-game near your player character. Fans expect that these creatures will be visible to you and your squad of allies, though perhaps not to enemy players — so there’s no blowing up of your new turtle buddy to be had.

Officially, Epic Games is yet to acknowledge Companions as being in development, and it’s still unclear if they will arrive this season. Whenever they do launch, however, Companions will be the first new cosmetic type introduced to Fortnite since November 2024, when the game introduced Kicks, better known as shoes.

Yesterday’s big Fortnite update saw the game launch a new alien bug-infested season for its main battle royale portion, while Fortnite OG shifted into the beloved season where Kevin the Cube first appeared. Although, as we previously reported, strange things are going on in Fortnite OG — where the timeline appears to be occuring slightly differently this time.

Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social