Fortnite
Released 25 July 2017 Developer Epic Games
Fortnite is a free online game built around a 100-player last-one-standing match, where you loot, build and shoot your way across a shrinking island. It also holds a co-operative survival mode, a LEGO survival game, a music game, a racing game and thousands of player-made games. It is played mostly in squads with friends and is popular with children and teenagers.
Money health
CautionBuilt to push spending
Addictive design
High4 of 5 — counts the hooks designed in
Average price
Freefree to download
Spending ceiling
No ceilingRepeat purchases, no limit
Australian rating
Violence, Online Interactivity
How it makes money
Caution: built to push spending
Fortnite is free to download and play. It makes its money from V-Bucks, a virtual currency sold in packs from A$11.95 (800 V-Bucks) up to A$119.95 (12,500 V-Bucks). V-Bucks buy outfits, emotes and other cosmetics from an item shop that rotates daily, and the seasonal passes. The Battle Pass costs 800 V-Bucks (about A$12) and pays 800 V-Bucks back if you finish it. Epic cut the V-Bucks in each pack in March 2026 without changing the pack prices, which in effect raised the dollar cost of shop items. There is also an optional monthly subscription, Fortnite Crew, at A$17.55. What the game sells is cosmetic rather than power.
How you pay
- Battle pass
The Battle Pass costs 800 V-Bucks and returns 800 V-Bucks if completed (from 19 March 2026). Separate OG (800), Music (1,200) and LEGO (1,200) passes also exist, each with its own season.
- Free-to-play
Free to download on all platforms; all revenue comes from purchases of V-Bucks and the passes. Save the World, previously a paid mode, also became free to play on 16 April 2026.
- Creator coins
Players and studios publish their own games ('islands') with Fortnite Creative and Unreal Editor for Fortnite; each carries its own age rating, and V-Bucks are the currency across the platform.
minor part of the game - Cosmetics
The Battle Royale item shop and the passes sell outfits, emotes, pickaxes, back bling and similar items that do not change how strong a player is.
- Subscription
Fortnite Crew is optional, A$17.55 a month: it bundles the Battle, OG, LEGO and Music passes, 800 V-Bucks and a monthly item pack. The game is fully playable without it.
minor part of the game
Techniques it uses to keep you paying or playing
- FOMO timers
Item shop stock rotates, and each pass and its rewards end with the season (roughly every three months), so unclaimed or unbought items can leave.
- Never-ending
A live game with no ending: new seasons, events and crossovers arrive continuously, and it is currently in Chapter 7.
- Game currency
Prices in the item shop and for passes are shown in V-Bucks. Packs run from 800 V-Bucks (A$11.95) to 12,500 V-Bucks (A$119.95), so the price of an item in dollars is not obvious on screen.
Used to, but no longer
- One-tap buysremoved
In December 2022 the FTC said Fortnite's button layout let players (including children) buy by accident, for example when waking the game from sleep, and that Epic made charges hard to dispute. Epic agreed to US$245 million in refunds and now offers a parental-controls PIN for purchases.
Fairer alternatives
Similar games with a healthier money model
What it costs
Free to start, then A$11.95–A$119.95 a purchase
| What | Where | Price | Checked |
|---|---|---|---|
| 800 V-Bucks (smallest pack) Same price quoted for Epic's own payment system in Australia. |
Microsoft Store (AU) · Xbox Series | A$11.95 | Oct 2026 |
| 2,400 V-Bucks | Microsoft Store (AU) · Xbox Series | A$30.35 | Oct 2026 |
| 4,500 V-Bucks | Microsoft Store (AU) · Xbox Series | A$47.95 | Oct 2026 |
| 12,500 V-Bucks (largest pack) | Microsoft Store (AU) · Xbox Series | A$119.95 | Oct 2026 |
| Battle Pass (800 V-Bucks) Priced in V-Bucks; A$11.95 is the cost of an 800 V-Bucks pack. Completing the pass returns 800 V-Bucks. |
Fortnite (V-Bucks) · PC | A$11.95 | Oct 2026 |
| Fortnite Crew subscription Optional. Includes the Battle, OG, LEGO and Music passes, 800 V-Bucks and a monthly item pack. |
Fortnite Crew · PC | A$17.55/month | Oct 2026 |
Store prices change often and sales are common; we record the regular price on the date shown.
Reviews from across the web
What the critics said
-
9/ 10
IGN
Treats the game as a large playground of modes and crossovers around well-liked third-person shooting, and found it hard to get bored.
-
8/ 10
GameSpot
Praised the depth that building adds to the last-player-standing format, in a review of the early Battle Royale release.
-
9.5/ 10
Game Informer
Found the game easy for nearly anyone to enjoy, with Battle Royale its strongest part and the co-operative Save the World mode getting repetitive.
-
4/ 5
GamesRadar+
Noted that the game has kept adapting and holds its place at the top of the battle royale field.
Scores belong to the outlets that published them; follow the links to read the full reviews. Summaries are ours.
Age ratings & content
What's in it
Content labels
- Violencemoderate
Fighting, weapons, injury and death, from cartoon bonks to realistic killing.
From ACB, ESRB and PEGI descriptors - Blood & goremild
Blood, injuries and body damage on screen.
From ESRB descriptors - Sex & nuditymild
Sexual references, innuendo, sexualised imagery, nudity and sex scenes.
From ESRB descriptors - Languagemild
Swearing and crude language, from the odd 'damn' to frequent strong profanity.
From ESRB descriptors
Classification
Age ratings judge content (violence, language, gambling themes), summed up in the content labels above. They say little about how hard a game pushes spending — that's what the money badges are for. About rating boards
Safety & parental controls
Who can talk to your child, and what can they buy?
- Text and voice chat
- Players can interact with strangers
- Contains user-made content (not pre-checked by the developer)
- Needs an online account
An Epic account is needed. If a player says they are under 13 (or under their country's age of digital consent) the account is 'cabined': voice chat, free text chat and real-money purchases are switched off until a parent approves by email. A guardian can then use Epic's Parental Controls: a PIN, voice and text chat permissions, a mature-language filter, a PIN to add friends or to pay with Epic payments, a switch for 'paid random items', a limit on which Fortnite experiences can be played by age rating, blocking Creative/UEFN, weekly time limits and time reports. Age is self-declared. Console and phone settings control chat on those platforms separately. In December 2022 the FTC fined Epic US$275 million for collecting data from under-13s without parental consent and for having chat on by default.
Who makes it
The company behind it, and its track record
- Child safety
Child-safety enforcement
FTC, December 2022: $275 million COPPA penalty over Fortnite collecting under-13s' data and default-on voice and text chat, settled without admitting wrongdoing; Dutch ACM, May 2024: fined €562,500 over in-game ads urging children to buy, upheld by the Rotterdam District Court in January 2026. - Dark patterns
Dark-pattern ruling
FTC, December 2022: $245 million in refunds over purchase design that led to unwanted charges, settled without admitting wrongdoing; Dutch ACM, May 2024: fined €562,500 over misleading Item Shop countdown timers in a design it called a dark pattern, upheld by the Rotterdam District Court in January 2026. - Loot-box action
Loot-box enforcement
Zanca v. Epic Games (North Carolina), 2021: class-action settlement over paid random Loot Llamas and Rocket League Crates, settled without admitting wrongdoing. - Crunch
Crunch reports
Polygon, April 2019: staff described routine 70-hour weeks on Fortnite; Epic said 100-hour weeks were rare. - Large layoffs
Large layoffs
About 830 jobs cut in September 2023 and more than 1,000 in March 2026. - Shut down paid games
Shut down games people paid for
January 2023: switched off online services for older paid games including Unreal Tournament 2003, 2004 and 3 and Rock Band 1-3, several of which were also removed from sale.
Latest on the record
- Labour
Laid off more than 1,000 employees
CNBC - Regulator action
Fined €1,125,000 by Dutch consumer regulator over Fortnite shop
Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) - Labour
Laid off about 830 employees
CNBC
A company's history doesn't change this game's money verdict, which rates only how the game itself makes money. About company track records
Platforms & release
Where you can play it
| Platform | Released | Store |
|---|---|---|
| Nintendo Switch 2 | — | — |
| Nintendo Switch | 12 June 2018 | — |
| PlayStation 5 | 12 November 2020 | — |
| PlayStation 4 | 25 July 2017 | — |
| Xbox Series X|S | 10 November 2020 | Store page |
| Xbox One | 25 July 2017 | — |
| Windows PC Windows, via the Epic Games Store |
25 July 2017 | Store page |
| Cloud streaming Xbox Cloud Gaming |
— | — |
Further reading
- Official website
- FTC: Epic Games to pay US$520 million over privacy and billing allegations (Dec 2022)
- Epic Games parental controls
- Epic Games cabined accounts (under-13 accounts)
- Epic: V-Bucks price increase and Battle Pass changes (March 2026)
- ScreenHub: what V-Bucks cost in Australia after the March 2026 change
- Wikipedia
Facts last checked 22 October 2026. Sources: www.fortnite.com, www.fortnite.com, www.screenhub.com.au, www.xbox.com, www.ftc.gov, safety.epicgames.com, safety.epicgames.com, www.esrb.org, pegi.info, opencritic.com, www.metacritic.com, en.wikipedia.org, en.wikipedia.org. Spotted something wrong? Send a correction.