Hatred: Inflation
Inflation has hit Fortnite hard over the past year, thanks to Epic’s multi-pronged approach to raising the price of everything. This started with a price increase for V-Bucks in late 2023 and continued into the new year with two major changes to Epic’s item shop philosophy. Aside from some iconic skins (skin of real celebrities like Shaq) and Skratch Company sets, Fortnite has stopped releasing new collaborative skins with different style options.
For example, in Chapter 5 Season 4, Epic released 21 new non-icon collaboration skins. Only three of them had style options, and those three only had switchable features (Iron Spider’s helmet, Black Cat’s mask, and Spider-Woman’s leash). These days, Epic basically sells additional styles separately. As seen with the Platinum Festival skins, these are slight repaints of existing skins that sell for 1,800 V-Bucks each. In the past, styles like this were added to existing skins to drive new purchases, but those days are over.
Additionally, Epic has developed a troubling habit of bundling collaboration skins with accessories, selling them at a higher price, and not allowing them to be purchased on their own. Once a rare practice, Epic has implemented this measure at least 30 times in 2024, mostly on collaboration skins. There have only been five total examples of Epic attempting this tactic in 2023, four of which were TMNT skins that the company released later in the year.
And last but not least, bundle prices have dropped significantly. I used to go up to 2800 V-Bucks, probably because I could purchase that exact amount. However, it appears that all large collaboration bundles in 2024 will surpass this, with 3400-3800 becoming Epic’s preferred large bundle price range. Fortunately for everyone, Epic seems to be backing away from this new normal little by little with most of December’s new bundles.
