Fortnite promises 20% back on V-bucks as long as you promise to give your money to Epic and not Apple

From now on, Epic's promising 20% on every single Fortnite V-bucks purchase – or any other item you buy in the publisher's free-to-play games. All you have to do is make your purchases directly through Epic rather than a platform-holder's store. As Fortnite makes ready to return to iPhones following years of legal drama, it's difficult to see this as anything other than one last jab at Apple.

"Starting today, when you make a purchase in Fortnite, Rocket League, and Fall Guys using Epic’s payment system globally on PC, iOS, Android, and the web, you’ll get 20% back in Epic Rewards," the publisher explains in its announcement. "You can spend your rewards in Fortnite and our other games, or on the Epic Games Store when you use Epic’s payment system. These 20% rewards in Epic's games are here to stay."

With respect to Fall Guys and Rocket League, the big story here is that these rewards effectively make Fortnite's V-bucks 20% cheaper – with the obvious caveat that you can only spend your rewards balance in Epic's ecosystem. Still, if you're the type to make repeated Fortnite Item Shop purchases, those rewards will add up.

While you'll only get prompted to go to the external Epic payment service for your purchases on mobile, console Fortnite players can still get the benefit of the extra rewards by buying through the online version of the Item Shop.

This rewards upgrade comes just as Epic has announced that it's "submitted Fortnite to Apple for review so we can launch on the App Store in the U.S." Apple may yet find some reason to reject the game yet again, but for now it looks like Fortnite's return to the App Store is finally nigh.

There's some irony here in that Epic once before offered a 20% discount on V-bucks for players bypassing third-party payment options to buy direct from the publisher. That happened in 2020, and it was what prompted Apple and Google to both kick Fortnite from their platforms, resulting in the legal battle that's only recently resolved.

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