I Cancelled My "Fortnite Crew", and You Should Too

When I tell you to think of “modern gaming”, more often than not you aren’t even gonna think of an entertainment product. You’re most likely going to fixate on all the systems surrounding the game, rather than the game itself. The reason for it is rather simple, the business side of things is a prominent vocal point. Whether it’s for a tweet, an article, or even just simple conversation, the topic has shifted. It isn’t just about whether a game is “good” or not anymore.

It’s important to be informed, though. You need to know if the game you’re playing is undergoing any sort of change. It could be for the better, but it could also fall victim to pure, corporate greed. Such is the case today with Fortnite, Epic Games’ breadwinner that they decided to submerge underwater with an update to their premium currency, V-Bucks.

V-Bucks is the currency used to buy anything through Fortnite’s in-game shop. There have been countless debacles regarding V-Bucks in the past, including the infamous Epic Games v. Apple court case where Epic’s CEO, Tim Sweeney, went against the grain with a lawsuit starting in 2020 and fought against the 30% fee that storefronts such as Apple (and Steam) take whenever a transaction’s made. His deep pockets felt a little loose, so he wanted to pad them out a bit more. All for naught, as today Fortnite is still available on the App Store and all payments are met with a 27% commission.

Flash forward to March 2026, and it’s been announced that on March 19, the prices of ALL packs of V-Bucks are to be met with a price increase. A digital, fake currency is the latest victim of real world inflation. The reasoning for this as stated by Epic Games themselves, “The cost of Fortnite has gone up a lot and we’re raising prices to help pay the bills.” I don’t think you could’ve been more out of touch if you tried.

Most people are struggling to make ends meet as is. The state of the world is not a particularly wholesome one. We go to video games to escape it and not have to think about the horrible acts of terror being put on display. When you blur that line and bring real world implications of any caliber into the goofy game where Mordecai from Regular Show can hit the griddy on Darth Vader, nobody’s laughing anymore.

So what’s exactly changing?  In short, every single purchasable instance of V-Bucks will simply give you less for the same exact price. The image speaks for itself. This change is asinine to put it simply. Sure, the Epic Rewards cash back is greater. The problem being the PC player base does not make up the entirety of Fortnite. There are players on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series S|X, Nintendo Switch, Nintendo Switch 2, iOS, and Android. Epic Games has put in the only possible benefit to these price increases just for over 70% of the players to never see or utilize them. Epic Rewards don’t exist anywhere else but on PC, and can’t be used on anything besides Epic Games’ pseudo-ecosystem.

Battle Passes are now going to cost 800 V-Bucks as opposed to the original 1000. However, as gracefully stated by Epic, Battle Passes used to net you 1000 V-Bucks cumulatively in the form of Battle Pass rewards, and you could earn an extra 500 through the Pass’ bonus rewards. With the new changes, you can only earn 800 back from the pass, and the bonus rewards are just gone. 

The straw that broke the camel’s back for me so to speak were the changes being made to Fortnite Crew. Now, the Fortnite Crew subscription is admittedly a good deal. You gain access to all of the in-game passes, an exclusive skin every month, and the longer you’re subscribed to the crew the more styles you can earn both actively and retroactively for previously acquired skins. On top of that, you are also granted an extra 1000 V-Bucks a month. Sounds perfect, doesn’t it?

The subscription price isn’t increasing, but they are now lowering the granted V-Bucks from 1000 to 800. “It’s only 200 V-Bucks-” no, the numerical value is not the point here. And even so, this in conjunction with the 700 V-Bucks stripped away from the Battle Pass is as clear as day that you are paying more for less. Epic Games is simply siphoning money from its players for no reason other than greed.

This season has left a bad taste in players’ mouths for good reason. Countless pointless UI changes, the egregious amount of collaborations, and quite possibly the worst weapon pool this game has ever seen since its inception (looking at you, lock-on AR and lightning gun). With these changes being implemented, my desire to play the game has never been lower. So after over a year of happily paying for my crew subscription, I decided to cancel it.

I know it’s a droplet in the 5 billion dollar revenue ocean that isn’t enough to ‘pay the bills’, but I want it to be known that I do very much so enjoy Fortnite as a game. The content on offer and all the various things you can do apart from just Battle Royale has been such so much fun. Fortnite’s allowed my sister and I to connect on things she’s never heard about otherwise, and that goes both ways. Fortnite Festival is the most fun I’ve had with a rhythm game in so long just because of how easy it is to start playing it.

I’m seeing a lot of other people cancel their crew subscriptions as well online, and if you can I would highly encourage you to do the same. I understand the benefits it provides, but honestly if you really want Fortnite Crew and you play on PC, do not give Epic Games your money directly. I won’t tell you what to do. I definitely won’t suggest going to a key site such as Loaded and purchasing Xbox Game Pass as it grants you access to Fortnite Crew instead from a third party reseller so that way the corporations don’t get your money, nah don’t be silly.

I never actively want a game to fail. Throughout my short tenure I’ve been able to see that behind all of these games is just a group of people that are so excited to make a game. I hate that they get punished because of the suits above. Sending death threats to developers won’t do anything aside from make you look stupid. It’s not that serious. However, the only way that these companies will listen is if they see drops in revenue.

I would encourage anyone reading to cancel your Fortnite Crew subscription, and if you want V-Bucks you’re better off buying a physical card in the store as those will not lose their value. I’m positive Epic Games is not going to change their minds about this whatsoever. And that’s fine. It makes it that much easier to put my money elsewhere.