With the introduction of three all-new experiences – LEGO Fortnite, Rocket Racing, and Fortnite Festival – Epic’s unstoppable “everything” game Fortnite has taken a big step towards becoming a platform of its own. But with so much new content available, the developer is having to find ways to monetize it — and the latest microtransactions are attracting criticism for their outrageous prices.
Perhaps one of the biggest backlashes is the cost of the Rocket Racing vehicles, which weigh up to 4,000 V-Bucks each. Now to be fair, these include different skins and are available in Rocket League too, but you’re looking at a real-money investment of up to £27.99/$36.99 for a single car here, although you’ll have around 1,000 V-Bucks left over from the process the purchase.
Meanwhile, a single Fortnite Festival song will cost you around 500 V-Bucks, so you’re looking at a purchase for around £6.99/$8.99 for two (or around £3.50/$4.50 for one). Elsewhere, new instrument skins, such as drum kits and guitars, cost around 1,000 V-Bucks each, so they cost £6.99/$8.99. Obviously this is it a lot from money.
Even the Festival Pass, a separate Battle Pass dedicated to Music mode, costs 1,800 V-Bucks, which is nearly double the cost of the main Battle Royale path. Perhaps the only positive thing here is that 1,200 skins have been converted to LEGO Fortnite for free, so you don’t have to invest extra money in this mode.
Epic is clearly testing the waters here to see what they can get away with. Obviously, Fortnite is a huge game right now, and you can experience almost everything it has to offer without breaking your wallet once. In that sense, it is an incredibly generous experience. But if you want some more premium cosmetics, it looks like it will cost you.
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