Xbox Game Pass Ultimate members will no longer be eligible to receive 1,000 V-Bucks a month, with Epic downgrading their complimentary Fortnite Crew subscription service by slashing its currency offerings by 20%. The Xbox Game Pass Ultimate perk will officially become worse on March 19.
Epic originally launched its Fortnite subscription service in 2020, offering it for $11.99 a month. Though the company has raised prices in some regions since then, it has so far resisted implementing such changes globally. Fortnite Crew was added to the ever-shifting list of Xbox Game Pass Ultimate perks in late 2025.
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On March 10, Epic announced a large-scale Fortnite economy reset that will make V-Bucks more expensive. The upcoming effort will also affect Fortnite Crew, which is being downgraded from offering 1,000 V-Bucks every month to 800. Epic cited rising Fortnite support costs as the reason for the decision, which will also affect Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscribers who get the service as one of their secondary membership perks. The change is scheduled to go into effect on March 19.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Rearrange the covers into the correct US release order.
Easy (5)Medium (7)Hard (10)
Fortnite Crew is thus not receiving a direct price increase but will instead offer reduced value. This aligns with how Epic has structured the rest of the upcoming changes, with most V-Bucks packs retaining their current prices while containing less virtual currency. The $8.99 bundle is the most relevant to Fortnite Crew, as it previously included 1,000 V-Bucks and will soon be reduced to 800, matching the amounts cited for the subscription service. By keeping prices unchanged while lowering value, Epic is likely aiming to reduce the risk of immediate subscription cancellations. The company’s only offering set to receive a traditional price increase is Fortnite’s Same Amount Pack, which previously cost $0.50 for 50 V-Bucks but will rise to a $0.99 base rate.
Since a monthly V-Bucks stipend is one of the highlight offerings of Fortnite Crew, the newly announced change marks a noticeable blow to how Epic’s service is perceived by subscribers. But seeing how this membership is just one of dozens of perks that Xbox Game Pass Ultimate users can access in any given month, it is unlikely to significantly impact Microsoft’s churn rates.
Upcoming Xbox Game Pass Events
- March 12: Hollow Knight: Silksong joins Premium-tier library
- March 15: 6 games leaving
- March 17: DreamWorks Gabby’s Dollhouse: Ready to Party joins Ultimate, Premium, and PC tiers
- March 17: Monthly Wave 2 game lineup announcement
- March 19: Fortnite Crew perk downgraded from 1,000 to 800 V-Bucks a month
- March 26: Nova Roma joins PC- and Ultimate-tier libraries on day one
The March 19 changes will be partially offset by the standard Fortnite Battle Pass being lowered from 1,000 V-Bucks to 800, while the OG Pass drops to 800 and the Music and LEGO Passes fall to 1,200, which means players focused mainly on pass access are somewhat insulated from the sting of getting fewer V-Bucks, regardless of whether they are Fortnite Crew members. The Battle Bundle (BP + 25 levels) price is also being reduced from 2,800 to 2,600 V-Bucks as part of the rebalancing. Even so, Epic is making the overall ecosystem stingier in another way: the Battle Pass will now award 800 V-Bucks for completion instead of 1,000 plus an extra 500 in Bonus Rewards. In practical terms, players can still earn enough to fund the next Battle Pass, but even the most religious grinders will lose a significant amount of surplus currency.
While the changes to the in-game economy are formally scheduled for March 19, the reduction to Fortnite Crew’s monthly V-Bucks grant may roll out at different times depending on the region, Epic said. The company added that it will notify subscribers by email before the change takes effect, once a finalized global rollout plan is in place.
- Released
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September 26, 2017
- ESRB
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T for Teen – Diverse Content: Discretion Advised, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
