It seems like no currency is sacred when it comes to the increased prices caused by the ongoing cost-of-living crisis and rampant inflation in much of the West. That includes Fortnite's intangible, in-game currency, the might V-Buck, which is set to increase in price in select regions.
Players in Canada and the UK will need to fork over increasingly less-valuable real-world currency to keep up with Fortnite's latest fashion trends. Mexico, meanwhile, is actually getting a teeny price cut, so that's something.
We'd have thought V-Buck's might be immune from such fiscal turmoil, what with it being made-up money, not backed up by fiat, state, or economic institution outside of Epic itself. Premium currencies allow companies to extract additional cash from players in, if not a respected fashion, at least one which gamers tolerate, but this latest does seem slightly beyond even that Pale.
Announced hours ago on Fortnite's website, the price increases come into effect in just a few short weeks. Prolific Fortnite leaksmith iFireMonkey has the breakdown in a more readable format, which sees price increases of several Canadian dollars and British pounds, respectively, in some cases.
The largest quantity of V-Bucks on offer (apparently offering the best value for money) is 13,500 of the things, which will now cost players in these regions CAD $119.99, BPS £69.99. That's up from CAD $106.79 and £63.99, respectively.
What do you make of the real world's inflationary effect on on the all-mighty V-Buck? Find someone to mind your physical currency for you in the comments section below.
[source fortnite.com, via resetera.com]
Comments 34
I think it's worth spending more for sexy anthrophromic cats.
Still insane to me that people pay hundreds of pounds extra to play a game. Especially when it’s all cosmetic.
What a waste but im just as stupid sometimes with Gems of War.
Surprised to see the Mexican peso gain in strength.
At least now my little nephew birthday v bucks is a little cheaper now.
No reason to do this other than trying to maintain their disgusting level of profitability. The fact they have announced it with plenty of time for stupid people and kids to panic buy them says it all really.
@thefourfoldroot1 100 % agree...and to blame the cost of living crisis and rising inflation is a disgusting excuse because lets face it folks the fortnite franchise is really short of money 🤣
Ukraine is the biggest manufacturer of V-Bucks so this had to occur sooner or later.
They make millions every day, this has nothing to do with inflation, it's greed. These kids that pay for this stuff are hooked and their parents should refuse to buy
I would love to know how much of this extra profit is going to benefit the workers. And how much will drop straight in the pocket of the CEO.
It’s not proper inflation as everyone who is “passing on costs” then registers record profits and pays records bonus’s to the CEO whilst paying below inflation pay rises to its staff.
This is called profiteering. It’s ridiculous
Just a made up excuse to put the price up
Absolute horseshit, what does this have to do with inflation? It’s virtual currency ffs.
Virtual cotton and PVC has gone up in price so this makes sense. They have to pass on the cost to consumers.
How much of a c u next Tuesday do you have to be to decide to do this
"Ooooh we're not making enough billions." Pathetic
Ah that ole excuse
Robbing ba$tards
Same with Fall Guys too, if anyone's interested. I assume all Epic games are affected. Scum.
For the love of Gaming, STOP BUYING VBUCKS!!
SO many companies are hiding behind inflation to justify increasing prices when they're making record profits. Stop feeding this.
haha, Vbucks, pretending like it's a real resource that's been affected by world events.
Do they mine them especially? Is there a super hi-tech factory that produces them that relies on international supply chains?
No, it's purely a in game currency controlled by the game owners. There is no outside reason that could affect the price of VBucks, especially to quote inflation.
What a joke!
Well thank you Brexit, Covid and Ukraine war, ANOTHER thing you've made go up in price! What is the next thing to go up in price that will blame it on the terrible trio? I'm going to guess at fresh air, or dust.
Things that don't physically exist are going up in price.
Of course Vbucks are subject to price increases, along with everything else, if Epic are looking to maintain current profits. In theory it could be a good thing for inflation if the result is people stop spending money on them. Doubt that will happen though so Epic should do the decent thing and keep the prices down instead of stoking the fires, since it's not like they are really hurting. And the funny thing is, are these prices really going to all drop back down again in a year once inflation is under control? Doubt it.
It’s completely virtual and has zero production costs. I’m struggling to see why it would be affected by the market at all. Other than the old ‘we want more money’.
@nessisonett But isn't it "the same amount of money"? Epic's business are linked to Vbucks so of course it's subject to the "real economy". I mean, I got a pay rise this year but am substantially less well off than 2 years ago due to spending power.
Push Square hasn’t mentioned it, but this comes right after Epic eliminated the daily rewards for logging into the Save the World mode, which was my primary method of accumulating V-Bucks (outside of the Battle Pass). Once a week, the daily rewards were at least 150 V-Bucks, sometimes 300, 800 or 1000, just for logging into the game. I have amassed an impressive collection of skins and emotes over the past three years, all for free except for the initial purchase of the Save the World mode. To raise the real money cost of V-Bucks immediately after eliminating a perk that has been there since the beginning is a scummy move by Epic.
@kyleforrester87 I’m not sure it really applies in this case given that VBucks don’t actually have any spending power. The only way you can spend them is on skins that have zero value, ie they cost no raw materials to produce and cannot be exchanged for goods and services of an equal value. Epic Games also aren’t a UK company and the US prices aren’t going up so they are getting ‘more money’ from UK customers especially with the pound doing better against the dollar than it has since the Trusspocalypse.
I'm sorry but you can't make millions, let alone billions in profit and then hide behind inflation. And this goes for every company on the globe.
@nessisonett Prices have gone up in USA, and still epic operate globally including subsidiaries.. I would think inevitably they are covering higher costs - rents, suppliers, utilities, wages across the board. Vbucks directly generate income for Epic which of course has purchasing power.
The question of course is are these increased prices legitimately needed to keep the business going through a difficult period or are they profiteering.. of course it looks like the latter. It’s a shame and does not help anyone in the long run but the only solution to the higher price is to not buy them.
Yeah, I’m not happy about this tbh. I don’t really buy much anymore though so it’s just as well.
But there is a Transformers bundle coming out in October… 😫
I find it funny that I know players who have spent thousands of dollars on this game and I played 3 seasons to get enough to buy the battle pass forever for free. Instant gratification is a partial downfall of this generation of players' wallets.
It was already overpriced and adjusted for a 100 years of inflation at the least. Nonsense.
"Inflation," lol. It's an in-game currency. They're charging more because they think they can get away with it. End of story.
Who cares. Maybe the parents can exercise some control over their children for once.
You don't need V Bucks to play the game.
The excuse is nonsense but so is the whining.
I've never once spent money on virtual currencies in games, and I never will. It's a crying shame that others who are in the same boat are forced to accept MTX in games even though they consciously do everything in their power to avoid it, and to avoid encouraging it.
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