A crowd of Fortnite players are arranging a boycott against Epic’s free-to-play battle royale game in response to the rising cost of V-Bucks.
Taking effect on March 19, 2026, the price of V-Bucks, the game’s in-game currency, will increase with the $8.99 Pack now giving players just 800 V-Bucks instead of the usual 1,000 V-Bucks. While the price is increasing, Epic is also reducing the amount of V-Bucks needed to unlock certain rewards with the standard battle pass now costing 800 V-Bucks instead of 1,000 V-Bucks.
It’s a complicated change, one Epic has claimed is a necessity as “the cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills”. Despite Epic’s insistence that the price increase is needed, fans don’t agree, and many are upset at the new price hike with many calling for a large-scale boycott.
In a post on the Fortnite Battle Royale subreddit, thousands of players are supporting a boycott for the game. “You cut out V-Bucks. We cut your funding,” the post reads as the player calls the price increase “a massive slap in the face to the players”.
The rise in V-Bucks isn’t the only issue the community is focused on with the post explaining that this is the latest move in a line of less consumer-friendly practices “such as removing Gift Stacking during their winter event” and “changing the in-game ranked Rewards to be based off the player’s rank, with it now taking 70+ hours to earn all the Ranked Rewards”.
Gift Stacking was a feature in previous updates where daily login gifts during an event would stack up when players weren’t active. This was removing during Winterfest with Epic instead forcing players to log in daily to get their free goodies, and it was a major annoyance. As for ranked rewards, players have complained that they “are basically impossible for the average player now” following the recent changes.
“Since Epic doesn’t want to listen. We’re going to force them to,” the boycott post reads. “Beginning today, we will boycott Fortnite. Don’t support them in any way, don’t buy V-bucks, don’t buy Crew, don’t do anything. If they are going to treat us like garbage, then they don’t deserve our hard earned money.”
Players in support of the boycott have claimed that they are already cancelling their Fortnite Crew subscriptions in protest. Additionally, many have claimed that they will no longer be buying any V-Bucks in the free-to-play game unless changes are reverted.
Alongside the change in pricing, Epic Games has announced that Fortnite’s PvE mode, Save the World, will be going free-to-play. While the mode is now free for all players, fans who purchased the game’s Founder’s Edition will still be able to earn free V-Bucks through the mode even with the price increase.
