V-Bucks aren’t getting more expensive, Fortnite players just don’t understand the economy

Epic Games has recently announced changes to the prices of V-Bucks, but many Fortnite players don't understand the reasoning behind it.

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Fortnite V-Bucks have been a popular topic over the past few days. After Epic Games announced a decision to change the price of Fortnite’s premium currency, many players got upset. We have seen many gamers spread misinformation over social media, we don’t think they understand what’s going on.

Starting July 17, V-Bucks in the United Kingdom will cost approximately 8% more, while Canadian players will have to spend around 10% more money on Fortnite’s premium currency. At the same time, V-Bucks prices in Mexico will go down by 4%.

Blaming a multi-billion is easy but a lot of players don’t understand why V-Bucks prices are changing. This kind of change is bigger than Fortnite. Below we’ll explain why.

Fortnite V-Bucks are affected by inflation and currency exchange rates

Epic Games is headquartered in North Carolina, meaning that the company uses United States Dollars (USD) for most of its transactions. Other countries in the world have their own currency, such as the British Pound (GBP) in the United Kingdom, Euro (EUR) in the European Union, and Mexican Peso (MXN) in Mexico.

All of these currencies have exchange rates against the US Dollar (one British Pound is currently equal to 1.27 US Dollars). However, this exchange rate is volatile and changes nearly every day. To put it into perspective, one GBP was worth 1.24 USD in early June, but its value was only 1.07 in September 2022.

This is the change we’re referring to.

Back in May 2021, Epic Games adjusted the prices of V-Bucks in many countries around the world. At the time, British Pound was worth 1.42 US Dollars, which was its peak value since April 2018. Since then, GBP has lost its value as it dropped by 10.5% from May 2021 to July 2023.

So technically, Epic Games started losing money.

In May 2021, 1,000 V-Bucks cost £6.49 ($9.20) but the new price is £6.99 ($8.90). This is on top of Epic Games paying currency exchange rate, which is usually 1 to 3%. The math isn’t going in Epic Games’ favor.

tldr: The price of 1,000 V-Bucks for the end consumer has increased by 7.7%, so Epic Games makes 4% less money from it than before.

The situation in Canada is almost identical. In May 2021, one Canadian Dollar was equal to 0.83 US Dollars. However, the current value is 0.75, (a decrease of approximately 9.6%).

Why are V-Bucks getting cheaper in Mexico?

The economic situation in Mexico has been quite positive over the past few years. While the United Kingdom and Canada have had their currencies devalued, the opposite has happened for Mexican Peso. Thanks to the thriving economy, the currency has increased against the US Dollar over the past two years.

In May 2021, one Mexican Peso was worth approximately 0.050 US Dollars, while this value increased to 0.058 in July 2023. The 16% increase marks the highest value of Mexican currency against the US Dollar in the last seven years. Due to this, it’s no surprise that Epic Games has lowered the price of Fortnite V-Bucks for this country.

So Epic Games is being very fair with the price changes.

At the moment, a bundle of 1,000 V-Bucks costs 165 Mexican Pesos, but its price will go down to 159 Pesos starting July 17. In other words, Epic Games used to get $8.25 from this bundle in May 2021 but will receive around $9.2 with the latest pricing adjustment.

In this case, not only will Fortnite players from Mexico pay less for their V-Bucks, but Epic will also receive more money.

V-Bucks price has drastically gone down over the past few years

One thing that is often overlooked is the massive decrease in V-Bucks prices in late 2020. Once Epic Games implemented its own payment processor for in-game purchases, the company decreased the price of the game’s most valuable currency by more than 20%. This was a global change that affected everyone.

Here is the comparison between the old and new V-Bucks prices.

V-Bucks package	Old	Current
1,000	$9.99	$7.99
2,800	$24.99	$19.99
13,500	$99.99	$79.99

Considering that this was a permanent change, it’s unlikely that there will be any major change in Fortnite V-Bucks price in the United States. However, we expect Epic Games to adjust the price of the game’s premium currency in a few more countries very soon.

Fortnite V-Bucks may cost a lot more in certain regions in the future

Unfortunately, the global economy hasn’t been very stable over the past few years.

There are numerous factors that have affected it, from the coronavirus pandemic to wars and conflicts. Some countries have gotten the short end of the stick, and their economies have been drastically affected.

Turkish Lira (TRY) is one of the currencies that have tanked over the past few years. In May 2021, one Lira was worth approximately 0.12 US Dollars but has gone all the way down to 0.038 in July 2023. This decrease of 68% is drastic, which is why we expect Epic Games to adjust the price of Fortnite V-Bucks in this transcontinental country.

During the previous pricing adjustment, the price of 1,000 V-Bucks was set at 50 Lira, which was approximately $6. However, Epic Games only gets $1.91 with the current exchange rate.

Here are some other currencies that have drastically increased against the US Dollar over the past two years:

• Argentine Peso (ARS) – 64%
• Swedish Krona (SEK) – 22%
• Russian Ruble (RUB) – 18%

Some currencies have a fixed exchange rate against the US Dollar, meaning that the prices of V-Bucks likely stay the same for a long time. More than 60 currencies have this exchange rate, but almost all the other currencies are quite volatile, which is why they might be subjected to different prices in the future.