Epic Games announced on March 10 that it will increase prices for V-Bucks, Fortnite's premium currency, effective March 19, to help cover rising operational costs. The company is also adjusting battle pass prices and subscriber rewards, despite reporting $6.21 billion in gross revenue last year. These changes apply across platforms, with some offsets like cashback incentives.
Epic Games revealed the pricing adjustments in a blog post dated March 10, stating that "the cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot, and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills." The changes take effect on March 19 and affect V-Bucks packs as follows:
- $8.99 for 800 V-Bucks (previously 1,000)
- $22.99 for 2,400 V-Bucks (previously 2,800)
- $36.99 for 4,500 V-Bucks (previously 5,000)
- $89.99 for 12,500 V-Bucks (previously 13,500)
- $0.99 for 50 V-Bucks (previously $0.49)
Exact-amount purchases in 50-V-Buck increments will now cost $1, up from $0.50. Physical V-Bucks gift cards already sold will redeem at their original printed values.
In related updates, the main battle pass price drops to 800 V-Bucks from 1,000, but completion rewards are reduced to 800 V-Bucks total, and the 500 bonus V-Bucks for finishing bonus tiers are being removed. Other passes see similar reductions:
- OG Pass: 800 V-Bucks (was 1,000)
- Music Pass: 1,200 V-Bucks (was 1,400)
- LEGO Pass: 1,200 V-Bucks (was 1,400)
Fortnite Crew subscribers will receive 800 V-Bucks monthly instead of 1,000. To mitigate impacts, Epic offers 20 percent cashback on purchases made through the Epic Games Store for Fortnite, Rocket League, or Fall Guys currencies.
The announcement comes amid Epic's recent legal victories against Google and Apple, which allow alternative app stores and payment systems. Despite these, the company cited ongoing high costs for development, servers, and licensing as reasons for the hikes.