Complete Guide to Day After Epic Enables Microtransactions In Fortnite Islands, One...

Back in September, Epic Games announced that it would enable "in-island transactions" in Fortnite, meaning that makers of Fortnite islands would be able to sell items directly from within their creations—part of an unspoken effort to make the game, and the revenues it pulls in, a little more Roblox-like. Originally planned to roll out in December, the DIY microtransactions didn't end up going live until January 9, immediately after which things started going sideways.

Steal the Brainrot, one of the most popular third-party games on Fortnite, moved very quickly to take advantage of the new policy once it went alive, and it was not especially gentle in its approach. As noted by IGN, Steal the Brainrot now offers a "Present Rot" bundle for 4,900 V-Bucks—that's $37, if you buy a bundle of 5,000 V-Bucks.

You can also, if you like, spin a virtual wheel for a shot at various in-game effects or small amounts of cash—for 100 V-Bucks a spin.

Fortnite map maker Richytoons also called out the Steal the Brainrot developers, saying, "You make us all look bad with this kind of stuff."

"The most popular UEFN game is now a gambling game targeted towards kids who don’t know any better," Fortnite content partner Moon wrote in another message on X. "They will mindlessly spend thousands of v-bucks for a CHANCE to get better in-game items, and they will fall into this trap / loop every single time they find a map with little things they like."

"This whole thing sucks," one redditor wrote from the perspective of a parent whose children are big into Fortnite. "Turns Fortnite into a mess to try and let my kids play unsupervised. They know not to buy anything from the regular store, but how are third party 'devs' with no moral compass going to obfuscate their microtransactions in new ways that are going to be intentionally designed to trick kids into spending money."

Numerous other redditors, however, responded to say that it's up to parents, and not game developers, to control what their kids spend money on. It's an ironic reaction, given the very loud upset over loot boxes in videogames not so many years ago: Epic Games itself, you may recall, was sued over the presence of "predatory" loot boxes in Fortnite Save the World, which were eventually removed from the game "because we realized that some players were repeatedly disappointed by not receiving the random items they hoped for," Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney said at the time. "Players should know upfront what they are payi

Source: PC Gamer