The days of grinding to complete those Fortnite Battle Pass quests to unlock exclusive items may soon be over.
Wednesday, Epic Games announced a major change to Fortnite and its Battle Pass, the paid tier of the hit free-to-play online video game.
“Items in future Fortnite Battle Passes may be available for purchase in the Fortnite Shop 18 or more months after the Battle Pass expires,” reads a statement posted on Fortnite’s official website.
This means that Emotes, Pickaxes, Back Blings, Wraps, Loading Screens, Clothing and – most importantly – clothing aka, leather that were once Battle Pass exclusives may be available for purchase in the Fortnite in-game Store, even if the player lost the Battle Pass these items were a part of.
The company says all other Battle Pass benefits will remain the same, including the price of the pass costing 950 V-Bucks, Fortnite’s in-game currency, or $8.49.
‘Fortnite’ players vow to destroy all Cybertrucks they see in the game
A big change in Fortnite
While Fortnite is free to play in its online multiplayer mode, the game is monetized through skins and other items that are sold in-game.
These items do not give players any advantage in the game. However, while Fortnite has continued to partner with popular media properties like Marvel and Star Wars, players have spent billions of dollars each year on Fortnite to play as their favorite characters.
The Speed of Light Mashable
However, some items can only be unlocked via Fortnite’s Battle Pass.
Every few months, Fortnite starts a new season with new characters, new maps and new additional features. Players can purchase a Battle Pass for that season and then complete quests to earn XP, level up, and unlock more than 100 exclusive rewards during that season.
But previously, if a player missed out on earning enough XP to complete the Battle Pass, they would forever lose access to items that were locked beyond their Battle Pass level.
If someone was completely new to Fortnite, this means that they forever lost the opportunity to play characters that were part of the previous seasons of the Battle Pass such as Optimus Prime or Darth Vader.
According to the Fortnite team, this was one of the main factors in their decision to change item exclusivity in future Battle Pass offerings.
Why give Fortnite players another chance?
“One reason for this change is that we want players on track to enjoy Battle Pass content, such as Outfits based on popular licensed characters,” the statement said. “While there is no guarantee that a Battle Pass item will come to the Store after this change, IP content from future Battle Passes may come to the Store at least 18 months after the Battle Pass expires.”
It’s unclear if this means previous Battle Pass outfits and items are still permanently unavailable to those who missed out. Mashable has reached out to Epic Games for more information on this.
However, it is clear that going forward, some Battle Pass items will no longer be exclusive. The purpose of the Battle Pass rewards will now be to guarantee you get those items and the lowest price point of 950 V-Bucks to try to unlock them all.
Fortnite is still a very popular game with hundreds of millions of active players. But the number of players Fortnite has at any given time seems to be ebb and flow with the offers of that particular season. Perhaps, this change will interest some new players who were previously turned off because they missed out on the Battle Pass that would have allowed them to unlock their favorite characters.