Epic Games has announced that it's going to start phasing out physical Fortnite V-Buck cards that folks can buy in stores, and will replace them with gift cards that have a set dollar amount. The changeover begins this month in the United States and much of Europe, and will roll out to the rest of the world sometime later. And anyone who buys one of these gift cards between now and the end of 2026 will receive a free skin, a new variation of the sock monkey skin Monks.
The skin you'll unlock by using one of the new Epic gift cards.
This marks a pretty big change, as these cards are not really Fortnite cards at all, but are instead Epic Game Store gift cards that can be used in Fortnite, Rocket League, Fall Guys or anything else that is available for purchase on EGS. The reason for doing this isn't too tough to parse. V-Buck cards allowed you to redeem them on any platform you chose, but these EGS gift cards must be used on EGS itself--presumably allowing Epic a way to avoid paying a percentage to those platform holders on V-Buck purchases. Since your V-Bucks are cross-platform aside from those bought on a Switch, it won't be much of an inconvenience for most folks.
The EGS gift cards will be sold in dividends of $15, $30, $50 and $100, none of which line up with the cost of anything you can buy in Fortnite, which will no doubt cause some frustration with players who use these cards. Despite that, there are some upsides to this change.
First, these gift cards will let you buy Fortnite products that cost real money--V-Buck cards would allow you to buy most things in the Fortnite shop, but not real-money packs or a Fortnite Crew subscription. But that changes with these cards. Second, buying stuff with these cards will get you 20% cash back from Epic, so a $100 card would ultimately be worth $120--though you'll have to spend the balance before you get the bonus cash.
There's one big caveat here for folks playing Fortnite on Switch or Switch 2, though. The Switch and its new successor system aren't part of Fortnite's shared wallet, and so you cannot use these cards to buy V-Bucks on Switch. But that's not quite the barrier that it used to be now that the Fortnite web shop exists--anything purchased on the web shop will unlock for you in the Switch version of the game.
While this change will start rolling out very soon, it's not something that will happen overnight, as the existing stock of V-Buck cards will still be sold until they're all gone.
All this news is coming just as Fortnite's Star Wars season is coming to a close, with a mysterious new season that we still don't know much about just days away. It's a big week for one of the biggest games in the world.
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The skin you'll unlock by using one of the new Epic gift cards.
This marks a pretty big change, as these cards are not really Fortnite cards at all, but are instead Epic Game Store gift cards that can be used in Fortnite, Rocket League, Fall Guys or anything else that is available for purchase on EGS. The reason for doing this isn't too tough to parse. V-Buck cards allowed you to redeem them on any platform you chose, but these EGS gift cards must be used on EGS itself--presumably allowing Epic a way to avoid paying a percentage to those platform holders on V-Buck purchases. Since your V-Bucks are cross-platform aside from those bought on a Switch, it won't be much of an inconvenience for most folks.
The EGS gift cards will be sold in dividends of $15, $30, $50 and $100, none of which line up with the cost of anything you can buy in Fortnite, which will no doubt cause some frustration with players who use these cards. Despite that, there are some upsides to this change.
First, these gift cards will let you buy Fortnite products that cost real money--V-Buck cards would allow you to buy most things in the Fortnite shop, but not real-money packs or a Fortnite Crew subscription. But that changes with these cards. Second, buying stuff with these cards will get you 20% cash back from Epic, so a $100 card would ultimately be worth $120--though you'll have to spend the balance before you get the bonus cash.
There's one big caveat here for folks playing Fortnite on Switch or Switch 2, though. The Switch and its new successor system aren't part of Fortnite's shared wallet, and so you cannot use these cards to buy V-Bucks on Switch. But that's not quite the barrier that it used to be now that the Fortnite web shop exists--anything purchased on the web shop will unlock for you in the Switch version of the game.
While this change will start rolling out very soon, it's not something that will happen overnight, as the existing stock of V-Buck cards will still be sold until they're all gone.
All this news is coming just as Fortnite's Star Wars season is coming to a close, with a mysterious new season that we still don't know much about just days away. It's a big week for one of the biggest games in the world.
Source