Fortnite's V-Bucks are about to get more expensive because 'the cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot'

Fortnite: It's pretty popular. And it makes a lot of money, sure, but it costs a lot of money too: Server infrastructure alone probably costs, well, a lot, and Epic is also kicking out money to Fortnite content creators—a lot of money, in some cases. It adds up! All of which is to say that V-Bucks, Fortnite's virtual currency, are about to get more expensive.

"The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills," Epic said by way of minimalist explanation. What's really happening, though, is shrinkflation, an execrable economics term that describes price increases imposed by reducing the size or quantity of the product in question.

There are detailed explanations and theories you can read about shrinkflation if you're into that sort of thing, but essentially it's a way of camouflaging price hikes because the price doesn't actually go up, so people are less likely to notice and get mad about it.

Anyway, here's how V-Bucks are changing as of March 19:

Nobody likes this sort of thing, but the good news is that Epic is also ramping down the prices of its various passes. The Battle Pass and OG Pass, which previously cost 1,000 V-Bucks, will cost 800 V-Bucks following the update, while the Music Pass and Lego Pass will drop from 1,400 V-Bucks to 1,200. So on that front, at least, things will remain relatively stable.

The Battle Bundle (the Battle Pass with the first 25 levels already unlocked) is also going down, from 2,800 to 2,600 V-Bucks, and Battle Pass owners will still be able to earn enough V-Bucks by completing it to cover the cost of the next one—it'll just be 800 V-Bucks, instead of 1,000.

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