Fortnite fans are in uproar over Epic Games’ changes to the pricing and availability of V-Bucks, and now the game’s developer has finally acknowledged the wave of negative feedback.
This week, Epic Games announced its biggest ever shakeup to how Fortnite’s lucrative in-game currency is doled out, and how much it will cost to buy. In short, you’ll now get fewer V-Bucks for your money, fewer V-Bucks in each battle pass, and fewer V-Bucks as part of the game’s Fortnite Crew monthly subscription.
The response to these changes has been extremely negative, with complaints on reddit and social media criticizing the financial necessity of the changes, as well as their timing.
Fortnite’s recent Chapter 7 relaunch was initially well received, though in-game issues, an ever-increasing amount of premium crossovers, and the sheer length of the most recent season has seen that excitement sour.
Chapter 7 Season 1 is the third-longest in-game season ever, and the first since 2022 to last more than 100 days. It has also featured crossovers with everything from Harry Potter to Kim Kardashian, though outside of a lengthy South Park tie-in, most of these collaborations have simply involved the ability to buy items from the game’s shop.
And then there’s the brief and blunt explanation for the price rises put forth by Epic Games, a video game developer which makes billions. Here it is in full: “The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills.” It’s a blunt message from a video game developer known to profit enormously from Fortnite, stated with no further context on the game’s running costs or current performance, to which many fans simply rolled their eyes.
I’ve been subscribed to Fortnite Crew since its launch in 2020, but today I’ve decided to cancel it after the news of the V-Bucks reduction & increase in pricing.
The news yesterday was my breaking point with Crew especially because I’ve been so dissapointed with how its been… pic.twitter.com/noKuJkJ6ID
— Rezztro (@Rezztro) March 11, 2026
“Here’s the thing, I don’t doubt the cost of running Fortnite has gone up,” said Typical Gamer, one of the game’s most prolific YouTubers, during a subsequent stream. “But other than that it’s tough. We don’t have all the inside knowledge of them running the company.” Indeed, Epic Games has always shied away from discussing the sheer number of people and studios it utilizes to keep Fortnite’s never-ending content machine constantly whirring.
“The community sentiment was truly that there was just collabs, on collabs, on collabs, and that’s what Epic was focused on,” Typical Gamer continued. “So for that to be the community sentiment and then for them to drop this, it’s just not a good mix. And people are angry. They’re really, really upset. Some people are saying they’re not even going to buy the next season’s battle pass in protest.
“If they had just waited a little bit, until after they’d made Save the World free-to-play, focused on the storyline and Fortnite’s own characters, brought the storyline back and made a banger of a season… I think at that point you get a lot less community backlash. A lot of people are just feeling like it’s a slap in the face after everything that’s going on the last few months… But I do feel it’s rare that Fortnite turns back this decision. The way they worded it, the way it’s so blunt, it’s like they just wanted to rip off the bandage and there’s no going back.”
Responses from fans on social media, meanwhile, have been less measured. “This is the ens***ification of Fortnite,” wrote on player in a lengthy thread on reddit. “[Fortnite]’s not growing anymore so the scumbag C suite will try to squeeze as much money out of what is left by lowering the quality of the product (this season was total ass) and charging more for it (v-bucks price changes). So blatant, so predictable.”
Other threads show players screenshotting the cancelation screens of their Fortnite Crew subscriptions, and making pledges not to play Fortnite’s next season.
“Appreciate the posts in these threads today, everyone,” wrote Epic Games staff member EmptyTux, responding after many hours to the many reddit threads on the subject. “There’s been a lot of feedback here not just about the V-Bucks changes, but sharing your feelings about Fortnite as a whole — especially on this current season. Can’t wait to show you next week’s update <3”
Today brought another teaser for that new season, which sees Fortnite’s storyline truly kick up a gear. There’s word of a fresh in-game story moment this weekend, and another Power Hour to keep players engaged and coming back ahead of next week’s new season launch. But will all the players who walked away from Fortnite this week still be there, playing — and paying — as the battle royale soldiers on?
Tom Phillips is IGN’s News Editor. You can reach Tom at [email protected] or find him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social
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