Fortnite announced that it has launched the Fortnite Mega Drop. With this, players can get as much as 20% savings on both V-bucks and real money offers. It’s important to note that this is not a sale, since the discount prices are available anytime. Even better, players don't have to do anything. This is just a big reduction in prices for the battle royale game.
This offer is available for players on the PC, Mac, Xbox, PlayStation, and the Nintendo Switch. However, for mobile players it’s going to be a little different.
How different? Well, in order to get the same discounts, mobile players need to use the direct payment method offered by Epic. In a blog post, the Fortnite Team revealed that when using Apple and Google payment options, the two platforms collect a 30% fee, which pretty much means that the price drop doesn’t apply. The team went on to say that should “Apple or Google lower their fees on payments in the future, Epic will pass along the savings to you.”
Just to give you an idea, buying 1,000 V-Bucks is priced at $7.99 (excluding sales tax) under this offer. However, doing the same for both Apple and Google costs $9.99 (excluding sales tax).
There’s no question that this is indeed good news for players. However, there is a larger thing at play here. Epic has long been trying to find a way for Apple and Google to lower their cut, or make changes when it comes to store fees. In a report by Chris Kerr at Gamasutra back in July, Epic Games founder Tim Sweeney had called both Apple and Google exploitative, especially when it comes to their 30% store fees for their mobile platforms.
Going back to this new promotion, the Fortnite Team shared that players that bought V-Bucks, or real-money offers like Summer Legends, in the past 30 days are going to get a V-Bucks bonus by August 17. The V-Bucks bonus is going to be 20% of the total purchase amount during the time frame.
That’s not all, as in celebration of the launching of the Fortnite Mega Drop, all active players get the Shooting Starstaff Pickaxe for free.
Finally, while V-Bucks can be bought for less, the rates for Support-A-Creator remains the same. So for every 2,000 V-Bucks spent, creators still get $1.
Breaking News Update
Looks like it didn't take long to see the effects of Epic's move when it comes to the mobile platform. Nick Statt of the Verge reported that Apple has removed Fortnite from the App Store.
In the same report, Apple said that Epic violated its App Store guidelines by adding in a "feature in its app which was not reviewed or approved by Apple, and they did so with the express intent of violating the App Store guidelines regarding in-app payments that apply to every developer who sells digital goods or services."
What are your thoughts on this? Is Epic Games right in having its own payment system? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
