The new season of Fortnite is almost upon us and with it the return of the map from Chapter 1. Our Fortnite author Christos was there live and was happy. But when he saw the price of the Battle Pass, he lost his fun.
Update, November 6th: Epic Games does not want to comment on this.
Epic Games monetizes Fortnite in five ways:
While event passes and skin, crew packs and V-Bucks are a topic in themselves, skins in the shop and the Battle Pass have fixed prices that have existed for years.
As a long-time player with over 2000 hours of playing time, I constantly follow Fortnite and also keep myself busy with leaks about upcoming content such as Season 5. I knew in advance that the current season would offer a smaller Battle Pass because it only lasts a month instead of the usual 3-4 months.
However, I was skeptical about the price Epic Games was planning for this one. I thought: Since there will only be 4 skins with associated items, Epic would reduce the price by half.
So instead of the 950 V-Bucks (equivalent to €8.99 for a normal pass), down to 400 or 500 V-Bucks, but I was wrong.
Instead, when I wrote the patch notes, I read that Epic was charging the same price for the Battle Pass as you would have to pay for a full-size one.
I think this is a nasty scam because it looks to me like Epic Games is exploiting the emotions of the players here, and I’ll tell you why.
Did you miss the trailer for Season 5? Then we have just the thing for you:
Fortnite: Chapter 4 Season 5 Gameplay Trailer – Back to OG
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Epic is apparently using OG and rarity to lure you
What bothers me about it? I wouldn’t have said anything if the Battle Pass had been reduced, but charging the same price for less content feels wrong to me. Normally a normal Battle Pass offers 8 skins, including 7 in the pass and 1 as a “secret skin”, i.e. as a bonus.
The bonus is usually a skin from a collaboration. Each skin also gets its own set of back bling, pickaxe, stickers, paint jobs and emotes. It’s the same in Season 5, but you only get half of what you would actually get for 950 V-Bucks.
In the pass you only get 4 skins instead of the usual 8 and these include:
I appreciate that Epic chose the old Chapter 1 map, including weapons and vehicles, as their theme and revived it, but to me it seems like they are intentionally exploiting the “OG” theme and the rarity of certain items to attract players who want to complete their collection or feel nostalgic again.
The skins in the Battle Pass alone are a mix of different favorites that appeared in Chapter 1 between 2017 and 2019 and have no longer been available since then. Players who weren’t playing at the time but still wanted the skins now have the chance to get similar copies.
The skins are not special in this sense, as these models already exist in their old form through their predecessors:
So these are not “new ideas”, but rather a special type of reskins in which two skins are combined with each other.
In addition, Epic will temporarily bring old items into the shop in their “OG Shop” so that players have the chance to purchase them again, but be careful: if you are not quick enough, you will miss them again and no longer have the chance to get them.
For those who don’t know what OG is, it’s the term “Original Gangster”. You call something or someone an OG if they were there from the start. All of the old Chapter 1 skins are therefore OG and a coveted collector’s item for many to show off in front of other newbies or players.
Basically, to me this seems like a clever plan to lure old and new players into Fortnite in order to lure them to the store counter. FOMO in its most natural form and unfortunately I also know it will work for me. I’m still missing some rare skins and emotes that I hadn’t acquired in Chapter 1, so I’ll fall into the trap.
However, I cannot understand the price of the Battle Pass. I want to know why, despite the slimmed down form of the Battle Pass, it still carries the same price as a full pass.
We asked Epic Games for a statement to explain the pricing policy of the current pass. As soon as we have it, I will include it here in the post.
What do you think of the price of the Battle Pass? Do you think this is justified or do you also get angry at the thought? Let us find out in the comments!
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