Eight years on from the initial release of Fortnite, Epic Games has announced major changes coming to the free-to-play online game. From December, it will allow creators to make and sell in-game items and to pay for more exposure in a new 'sponsored row' of islands.
It's an opportunity for Fortnite to creators to gain new revenue, but fans of the game are divided over whether the move is something to be welcomed. Some fear that big-earning creators will benefit more and that there will be a deluge of AI slop and even scams (see our guide to the best game development software if you planning to work on creating your own game).
Fortnite creators will be able to sell items directly from their islands using V-Bucks, the in-game currency. That way they will gain revenue from item sales rather than mainly through engagement numbers (last year, Epic paid $325m to creators in engagement payouts).
Epic says creators will normally earn 50 per cent of the V-Bucks value from sales, although the rate will start at 100 per cent initially through 2026 in a bid to encourage participation.
“V-Bucks value” is a little complex to calculate, but Epic says 50 per cent of V-Bucks value translates to around 37 per cent of retail spending, while 100 per cent translates to 74 per cent. Epic takes all customer real-money spending to purchase V-Bucks (converted to US Dollars), subtracts platform and store fees (ranging from 12 per cent on Epic Games Store to 30 per cent on consoles, and divides it by the V-Bucks spent by players.
To create items, creators will be able to use “a Verse-based API and new UEFN tools to create and offer purchasable durable items and consumable items in their games.”
From November, there will be a “prominent Sponsored Row” in Discover so that creators can “choose to spend money to receive increased visibility for their islands”. Epic says creators will have transparent market data to bid for placement in the row and enter an auction. Other rows will remain unchanged, continuing to provide organic visibility.
Launched in 2018, Fortnite's Creative Mode has been hugely popular, allowing players to create their own maps and modes. It made headlines recently when the Fortnite version of the Roblox meme game Steal A Brainrot at one moment had more concurrent players than official maps.
Sorry but tricking kids into paying for fortnite "items" or "cosmetics" in a creative map is the most brain-dead move. People broke as it is & now people will be creating pay to win maps? It's like being stupid enough to buy Lego cosmetics but this is worse.September 18, 2025
While some creators have expressed enthusiasm for the move, some players are concerned about a move towards Roblox-style monetisation and a descent towards pay-to-win as creators sell in-game advantages.
“This will potentially help creators, but IMO it will cause harm to the ecosystem,” one person wrote on X. “This is mainly because there are no protection tools for the player to avoid scummy behavior. There is nothing stopping the entire ecosystem from becoming P2W, except if there was a review system.”
”I can already feel big creators with large amount of money can easily exploit this new addition,” someone else wrote. “What about creators who focus on giving player experiences not random items locked behind paywalls so you can progress faster?” another person asked.
