Epic Games has announced that recent changes to Fortnite's Item Shop won't impact prices amid a brewing backlash.
A growing cohort of players believe the developer’s decision to ditch cosmetic item rarities earlier this week will lead to price gouging for virtual goods.
For the unfamiliar, before the divisive update, most cosmetics in the Fortnite Item Shop were colour-coded to reflect their value. Based on these grades, players could gauge the “quality” of an item like an outfit or pickaxe.
Generally, these tiers also reflected the price range of cosmetics in the game’s shop: an uncommon green item was 800 V-Bucks, a rare blue item was 1,200, a legendary gold item was 2000, and so forth.
Soon after the update was announced, angry players swarmed on social media to bash the change.
One fan said: “I now instantly don’t trust a single price in that shop. I already told myself I’m not going to buy cosmetics anymore but that’s the nail in the coffin for me.”
While another player tweeted: “There's somethings you can change, and some should stay untouched. This should've stayed untouched.”
With criticism growing, Epic was forced to address the controversial update. The developer tweeted: “Hey – the change to remove color labeling from Shop items doesn’t change our approach or the way we price things. We just wanna simplify the appearance of Fortnite (Locker, Shop, etc) and remove outdated Battle Royale-inspired systems.”
Gaming news reporter Happy Power responded to the tweet, saying: “The decision making lately as a company hasn't been in the best interest of players. You're over simplifying to much. The UI is terrible, this rarity change is also unnecessary.
“You guys need to listen to community feedback, the player base has plenty of valid arguments against these changes. This rarity change especially comes off as you're wanting to mislead players into buying Cosmetics that aren't worth the listing price.
“Rarity was a way to understand cosmetic worth, now my locker looks bland and everything blends into itself. Your community deserves to be listened too, that's just my personal feedback.”
Upon announcing the changes to the Fortnite Shop, Epic explained that its item vault had simply outgrown the original colour-coded structure.
“The Shop has evolved significantly to support multiple types of cosmetics and items across games, so we’re retiring the old Battle Royale-inspired system of colors and tags for cosmetic quality,” Epic said in a blog post on April 9.
“Different Series of cosmetics — such as the Icon Series or Gaming Legends Series — will still be there to help you find your favorite stuff!”
Fortnite is an online video game and game platform that was developed by Epic Games and released in 2017.
Back in September 2023, Epic announced in a statement that it would be making V-bucks more expensive: “We are adjusting the price of V-Bucks, and our real money content Pack offers in Czech Republic, Denmark, Eurozone countries, Hungary, Japan, Norway, Poland, Romania, Sweden, Turkey, and the United States (including all storefronts where the United States Dollar is used) on October 27, 2023.
“These adjustments are based on economic factors such as inflation and currency fluctuations, and follow similar pricing alignments recently completed in the United Kingdom, Canada, and Mexico.”
