Epic Games to increase Fortnite V-Bucks prices “to help pay the bills”

Epic Games has announced that it will raise the prices of V-Bucks bundles and several in-game passes later this month, as the cost of running the game “has gone up a lot,” despite earning over $6 billion in revenue last year alone.

The details:

• Epic has confirmed that it will roll out the new V-Buck pricing on March 19, with all V-Bucks bundles now offering less of the in-game currency in exchange for the same real-world price. In the US, the $8.99 pack will grant 800 V-Bucks instead of 1,000, the $22.99 option will drop from 2,800 to 2,400, the $36.99 tier will go from 5,000 to 4,500, and the top $89.99 bundle will now contain just 12,500 V-Bucks instead of 13,500. The “exact amount” pack will now cost more than double at its lowest, offering 50 V-Bucks for $0.99 instead of $0.49.
• The game’s battle passes are also seeing pricing changes. While they are now “cheaper” at 800 V-Bucks a piece compared to the previous 1,000, they will only provide 800 in return, meaning that players will earn less than before for completing them.
• Epic has simply blamed the increase on higher operating costs for the game but did not provide any further details regarding the decision. “The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot, and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills,” it wrote.