The latest collaboration with Fortnite has been announced, and in lieu of a free gig, you’ll be able to wear your favorite fashion brand into battle.
The Fortnite x Polo collaboration will be the next big event in Fortnite. From November 5, 2022, Fortnite players will be able to enter the battle royale equipped with the latest equipment.
The skins and accessories are inspired by Ralph Lauren’s 1992 stadium collection, known as iconic streetwear that combined motor racing and aviation kits. The skins look really cool, but are they worth the price?
If you want to get those items, the skin pack costs 1,500 V-Bucks, which is $11.99 / £9.74 / AU$18.56, not to mention all the other accessories.
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V-Bucks are Epic Games’ most lucrative asset when it comes to Fortnite. This currency is the gateway to all new and sought-after skins, items, and dances. If you want to buy them discounted, your best bet is to get the Battle Pass, but it will still cost $7.99 / £6.49 / AU$12.38 separately.
No matter where you look, monetization is inevitable in Fortnite. This applies to any free game; Epic Games has to make money somehow. However, Fornite also has a noticeably younger audience that can be impressionable when it comes to the latest trends.
It’s easy to associate Fortnite with skins and accessories, as cosmetics come first in every new seasonal update. In post on a blog (opens in a new tab) when announcing the collaboration, Epic describes the partnership with Polo as a combination of “courage, perseverance and style”, which seems like a bit too much for a handful of virtual skins.
Widespread acceptance of Epic Games’ approach to monetization in Fortnite will have a broader impact on live service gaming as a whole. Many games have switched to free-to-play models to create a cash cow that will bring them profits through battle passes and in-game purchases.
Overwatch 2 is a perfect example of this transition. While I love the new abilities, heroes, and map designs in Blizzard’s hero shooter, Overwatch 2’s Achilles heel is the in-game purchases. The cost of the items is ridiculous, and if you don’t pick up, it will literally take you more than that 300 years to unlock everything in the game.
If that’s the impact of Blizzard focusing on the “Fortnite generation”, a group of players used to, or even anticipating, seasonal cosmetic microtransactions, it’s likely to become the norm for smaller developers to follow suit.
It’s easy to be afraid of spending money in new ways – just look initially slow start of contactless payments (opens in a new tab) – but when big players join the game, the new systems become familiar. Fortnite may be best known for popularizing the battle royale genre, but its impact on microtransactions should not be overlooked.