Over the years, Fortnite has become notorious for its constant barrage of cosmetics and crossovers, many of which are housed within its battle passes. Well, some big shifts are on the way for battle passes, as Epic looks to more closely align the main Fortnite experience, Fortnite Festival, Lego Fortnite, and its upcoming return to the golden age of the game, Fortnite OG. In a new blog outlining these changes, Epic has confirmed that Fortnite OG will be getting its own separate battle pass away from the main battle royale.
While more official details on Fortnite OG are still yet to come before its release in a couple of weeks, we do know that it’s not going to be a limited-time experience like it was when it debuted last year – this throwback to the original chapter of the battle royale game is going to stick around permanently. As a result, Epic will treat it as its own standalone experience like the aforementioned Fortnite Festival and Lego Fortnite, and in theory, that means it needs its own battle pass.
Well, that’s exactly what the developer has confirmed today in a new post detailing how subscribers to its Fortnite Crew service will now receive all current and future standalone battle passes as part of their sub. Your $11.99 / £9.99 monthly fee will now grant you access to the premium rewards in the main Fortnite battle pass, as well as the Music Pass in Festival and the Lego Pass in its co-op survival spinoff. This coincides with Epic unifying battle pass progression with XP, rather than separate progression currencies for each experience.
However, Epic also says this: “When any new passes arrive in Fortnite, they will also be added to your Fortnite Crew subscription, including the new Fortnite OG Pass!” There you have it, confirmation that an entire line of unlockable cosmetics will be heading to this throwback mode.
Many fans are desperately hoping that this could see full battle passes from Chapter 1 reintroduced in Fortnite OG, which would be a blessing for anyone who didn’t play in that era and missed out on some of its most famous and best skins. However, due to licensing, the amount of variants for old skins that have been released and flogged in the store, and various other factors, I wouldn’t get your hopes up there. I can imagine that if Epic is going to the trouble of making a bespoke battle pass for OG, it will at least be themed around some of the characters and motifs of those early seasons.
While the increase in value for those subscribing to Fortnite Crew is great news, note that Epic is tightening up its rules a bit. Beginning Sunday, December 1, premium battle pass rewards can only be claimed by subscribers while they still have a subscription active – currently, you can unlock the premium tier of a battle pass with a Crew subscription but still keep claiming the rewards after unsubscribing.
Epic has also announced a slight increased the in-game price of individual premium battle passes for those that aren’t getting them through the Crew service. You could previously purchase a battle pass for 950 V-Bucks, but from December 1 onwards it’ll set you back 1,000.
Fortnite OG (and presumably its new, separate battle pass too) will arrive on Friday, December 6. As someone who has played Fortnite from pretty much day one, I’m extremely excited to hear more about this nostalgia-filled experience in the coming weeks.
Until then, here are some other amazing free PC games and multiplayer games to keep you occupied.
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