Fortnite's recent surge of Battle Pass changes continues as Epic Games has announced alterations to the price and accessibility of the battle royale's premium rewards, as well as the addition of a brand new pass.
As explained in a blog post, the new pass – officially called the 'Fortnite OG Pass' – is set to be released in the future, and while no details have been given yet, it sounds like it'll tie in with the return of Fortnite OG's permanent return next month. What's more, access to the OG Pass, alongside the regular battle royale Battle Pass, Music Pass, and Lego Pass, will all be offered as part of the $12/£10 monthly Fortnite Crew subscription very soon – with the latter three passes available as benefits from December 1.
This is a massive upgrade for Fortnite Crew, which up to this point, has offered subscribers a special Crew skin every month and the main Fortnite battle pass, amongst other things. It's not changing in price, so that's potentially way more rewards for the same amount of money, but there's a twist that might make that deal a bit less sweet for some.
Epic Games explains that from December 1, if new subscribers unlock the battle passes through Crew, to keep unlocking premium rewards from them for the full seasons, they have to stay subscribed. For example, if you only subscribed to Crew for the first month of a battle royale season, you'd only be able to unlock Battle Pass rewards for that month while your subscription is active, rather than being able to keep progressing until the pass itself expires like you currently can.
You won't lose any rewards you've already unlocked if you don't stay subscribed, but it means that those who don't grab everything quickly might end up paying out more than they do currently in real money to make sure they get everything. Personally, I've subscribed for the occasional month here and there to grab the latest Battle Pass and pick up a new skin for £10, but the new deal isn't going to be as enticing in that regard since I tend to unlock rewards gradually over the course of the entire season, and I wouldn't fancy the grind to get them all in the first four weeks.
However, a lot more rewards are now on offer, so for those who want them all, this may be a worthy compromise when you consider how many V-Bucks it'll save. In addition, for those who stay subscribed to Crew from before December 1, this change won't affect the regular battle royale Battle Pass unless you unsubscribe and then resubscribe later down the line (so the first time you unsubscribe, you'll still keep access to your current Battle Pass for that season). Alternatively, you can continue to buy the passes separately with V-Bucks for season-long access.
Otherwise, it's also worth noting that the standard Battle Pass is also increasing in price slightly, from 950 V-Bucks to 1,000. Historically, however, players have always been able to earn back more than that with each pass as long as they level up enough, so this probably won't be too detrimental to most.
There are some big changes all around, but on the whole, they seem to be mostly positive.
While you're here, be sure to check out our guide to Fortnite quests in Chapter 2 Remix.
