The battle pass monetization model is something of a double-edged sword: On the one hand, it can motivate people to spend money in order to ensure they get the latest shiny, but on the other hand, the pressure of FOMO can have the opposite effect or could even stop people from playing a game altogether. It would appear that Epic Games is recognizing the negative side of battle passes, which might be the reason Fortnite will be adding previous battle pass items to its cash shop.
The announcement goes out of its way to stress that not every single item in prior passes will be available for individual purchase, but going forward, battle pass items can arrive to the shop after 18 or more months from a pass’s expiration, including some licensed character items, rewards from battle quests, and bonus rewards.
There are some unanswered questions about this change to battle passes, such as whether the shop will grandfather older pass items (an apparent “accidental” old item’s arrival to the shop would suggest that won’t be the case), pricing for these items, or a date for this change to apply, but those who hate FOMO have arguably earned a very small win here.
In other Fortnite news, players building their own islands can now introduce a proximity chat feature into their creations, while LEGO Fortnite’s latest patch has added fast travel bus stations, allowed some world settings changes to apply without resetting a world, and added new toys, styles, and gameplay adjustments.
