In what’s sure to become a controversial move for gamers around the world, Fortnite has announced some major changes coming to its V-Bucks pricing and availability coming with the start of Season 2: Showdown. From March 19, V-Bucks will be available in lesser qualities both in exchange for real money and earned through the Battle Pass or Crew subscriptions.
The changes come as “the cost of running Fortnite has gone up”, according to Epic, and they claim they’re “raising prices to help pay the bills.” To try and balance out the reduction to V-Bucks per paid bundle and via the Battle Pass and Crew Pack, the V-Bucks cost for each Battle Pass (including OG, Music and LEGO) will be going down by 200 V-Bucks. The new bundles and their reductions are as follows:
- 800 V-Bucks – $8.99 (used to be 1,000 V-Bucks)
- 2,400 V-Bucks – $22.99 (used to be 2,800 V-Bucks)
- 4,500 V-Bucks – $36.99 (used to be 5,000 V-Bucks)
- 12,500 V-Bucks – $89.99 (used to be 13,500 V-Bucks)
- Exact Amount 50 V-Bucks – $0.99 (used to be $0.50 per 50)
Players who are subscribed to Fortnite Crew will also be receiving less V-Bucks per month as part of their included monthly rewards. Crew members will get 200 V-Bucks less per month, being reduced from 1,000 V-Bucks to 800 V-Bucks. All existing V-Bucks gift cards will retain their printed value and prices.
Completing the Fortnite Battle Pass will now reward just 800 V-Bucks – down from 1,500 V-Bucks – with the premium currency being removed from the Bonus Rewards section of the pass. As such, each Battle Pass will cost 800 V-Bucks and earn you back the exact same amount, with no extras given. To reflect these changes, the price of the Battle Pass + 25 Levels bundle will be reduced by 200 V-Bucks also, to a new price of 2,600 V-Bucks.
This is a big shake-up for the hugely successful Battle Royale game, and bad news for Fortnite gamers. The industry is in an interesting place, and inflation on virtual money is just the latest development in a line of curious and unfortunate decisions.
