Fortnite Increases V-Buck Prices and Reduces Bonus Rewards to Manage Costs
Epic Games is looking to boost its finances to cover the costs associated with Fortnite. The developer has announced plans to increase the price of V-Bucks, the in-game currency used across its platform, while also reducing the monthly V-Bucks allocation for Fortnite Crew subscribers and eliminating bonus currency rewards from the main battle pass. However, there’s a silver lining: the prices for the game’s various passes are being lowered.
Starting March 19, players will notice a decrease in the amount of V-Bucks they receive when purchasing the premium currency. Here’s the full breakdown:
| $9 pack | 800 V-Bucks (Previously 1,000) |
| $23 pack | 2,400 V-Bucks (Previously 2,800) |
| $37 pack | 4,500 V-Bucks (Previously 5,000) |
| $90 pack | 12,500 V-Bucks (Previously 13,500) |
Additionally, the cost for purchasing V-Bucks in increments of 50 will rise, with players now needing to spend $1 for 50 V-Bucks, up from the previous $0.50. Epic has confirmed that V-Buck gift cards purchased before this change will still provide the amount printed on them.
For those subscribed to Fortnite’s monthly Crew membership, the monthly V-Bucks reward will drop from 1,000 to 800. Furthermore, the 500 bonus V-Bucks that could be earned through completing the main battle pass and its bonus tiers will be removed.
On the bright side, the main battle pass will now be priced at 800 V-Bucks instead of 1,000, and the other three passes will also see a reduction of 200 V-Bucks each.
In a blog post dated March 10, Epic explained, “The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot, and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills.”
While it’s understandable that maintaining a massive online game like Fortnite incurs higher costs over time, it’s hard to believe that Epic is genuinely struggling financially. The timing of this announcement raises some eyebrows, especially since Epic recently reached a settlement with Google in a long-standing legal battle, allowing the company and others to offer their own app stores on the Google Play Store and utilize third-party payment systems, which should theoretically help developers retain more revenue. Prior to that, Epic also achieved a similar outcome against Apple in the EU. One might expect V-Buck prices to decrease in the future, but that doesn’t seem to be the case!
