After one of Fortnite’s most popular experiences added transactions for prize wheels, Epic is creating a new rule.
After one of Fortnite’s most popular experiences added transactions for prize wheels, Epic is creating a new rule.
Epic Games is making a big change to the rules for Fortnite creators just days after allowing them to publish experiences with in-game transactions. Beginning January 20th, experiences — which Epic Games calls “islands” — will not be able to offer in-island transactions as “a ‘spin’ or ‘increased luck’ for a prize wheel,” according to an Epic staffer on Reddit.
Epic is adding the rule after Steal The Brainrot, one of the biggest non-Epic games available to play in Fortnite, implemented a prize wheel that let players pay V-Bucks (Fortnite’s in-game currency) for spins and luck to acquire in-game items. Steal The Brainrot also added lootboxes, and the moves have drawn criticism from players, as reported by IGN.
Until this month’s change, Epic didn’t let creators offer in-game transactions in their experiences, meaning that creators instead were paid through an engagement-based system. (Roblox, one of Fortnite’s biggest competitors, does let creators sell in-game items.) But Epic made the change to give “independent Fortnite developers more agency over their creative and commercial decisions.”
Through the end of this year, Epic will pay creators 100 percent of the V-Bucks value from any in-island transactions. That rate is set to change to 50 percent after 2026.
Here is the full text of the rule banning transactions that influence prize wheels:
Do not offer any in-island transactions that directly or indirectly influence prize wheels.
The examples below are NOT allowed:
A luck boost that can improve the outcomes on a prize wheel
In-game content that can be used to purchase a spin on a prize wheel
Any spin on a prize wheel, such as a single spin, extra spin, or bundle of spins.
