Epic Games removes skins and V-Bucks from 'Fortnite' accounts due to third-party purchases

Epic Games has released "Fortnite Battle Royale" as a free-to-play game that is currently available on every current-generation gaming system, including mobile phones and tablets. Since it's a free game, the "Fortnite" developer sells cosmetic items in it to make a profit and further develop it. Players can purchase V-Bucks, the main game currency, from the in-game store and through V-Bucks cards that have been recently released.

In the past few weeks, there have been a lot of third-party sellers who offered V-Bucks at discounted prices. Many "Fortnite Battle Royale" players have purchased from these sellers, and Epic Games has decided to do something about it.

Most of the players who have gotten their V-Bucks this way had them taken away from the video game developer, and Epic Games has once again made it clear that players should purchase in-game currency through official sources only.

Removal of the cosmetic items and the currency

Third-party sellers get most of their costumers over social media websites, such as Twitter and Facebook, as well as websites like eBay. Buying 13,500 V-Bucks costs $99.99 for players from the United States, yet third-party sellers offered this amount of the in-game currency for under $60, which is a much better deal.

However, Epic Games has mentioned numerous times that players should buy "Fortnite Battle Royale" V-Bucks only through the official sellers.

At the moment, the official sellers include V-Bucks card retailers, in-game stores, as well as console stores such as PlayStation Store. Any other source of V-Bucks is most likely a fraud and the game developer has the right to remove V-Bucks obtained through third-party sellers. Considering that most of these sellers obtain the valuable currency by doing chargebacks, this is not allowed and the gaming company has its profit reduced because of it.

Many players have lost their V-Bucks and even cosmetic items recently. The reason was the purchase from third-party sellers, which is not something Epic Games tolerates. Players who bought their in-game currency this way had it removed, and players who used the purchased currency to buy cosmetic items had items removed from their locker.

Things may change soon

Right now, Epic Games simply removes V-Bucks obtained through a third-party seller and cosmetic items purchased for them. However, we can expect the "Fortnite Battle Royale" developer to be even stricter with their policy and to ban accounts of players who repeatedly buy the currency from such sources. Some other video game developers, such as Blizzard, ban accounts for buying in-game items through third parties.