In a rather unexpected move, yesterday’sFortniteupdate seemingly removed rarity colors from cosmetic items in both the Locker and Item Shop. The change has become quite the controversy in the Fortnite community, butEpic Gamessays it “doesn’t change [their] approach or the way [they] price things.”
Shortly after the v29.20 patch was deployed, Epic Gamespublished a new blog postdiscussing some important changes to the Fortnite Item Shop and Locker. In the post, Epic said it was “retiring the old Battle Royale-inspired system of colors and tags for cosmetic quality,” due to the ongoing evolution of the Item Shop.
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While the rarity color change has proven to be rather controversial, Epic did make a welcomed change to the Item Shop timer. In the same blog post, Epic said that beginning in late May 2024, it will be adding the planned date that every individual item will rotate out of the Item Shop to the item’s description page. This means players will be able to see exactly how long individual items will remain in the Item Shop before being removed.
Unfortunately, this change has been overshadowed by player’s outrage at the removal of rarity colors.
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Despite Epic Games making it clear that the removal of rarity colors does not affect the studio’s pricing strategy, fans believe there’s more than meets the eye. Over on X (formerly Twitter),content creator Pizosaid that the change is “not the end of the world,” but that Epic Games has “completely lost their credibility” when it comes to pricing.
Other Fortnite players,such as Rezztro, believe this is the latest in a long line of changes that is “ruining the magic this game once had.” The user went on to say that Epic is continuing to make changes that are “absolutely not needed.”
The controversial change also comes as a new, somewhat overpriced, Avatar: The Last Airbender collaboration hit the Item Shop. Players once again took to X to express their confusion over the bundle’s price, comparing it to the recent Invincible bundle that not only had more cosmetic items included, but was actually cheaper to buy.
When you pair the expensive Avatar bundle with this controversial rarity color change, it’s understandable to think that Epic Games isn’t just trying to make the Item Shop more aesthetically pleasing, but is actually trying to take away players' ability to compare prices between bundles of the same rarity.
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