Creators who make content for Fortnite can start monetizing their virtual goods in December.
The free-to-play online game's publisher, Epic Games, announced Thursday that those in its Creator program will earn revenue from the sale of in-game items they've made and money they already earn from engagement payouts for Epic-created items.
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Before platform and store fees, those creators ordinarily will earn 50% of the value of V-Bucks earned (V-Bucks are the platform's virtual currency). But from December until the end of 2026, Epic is boosting that revenue cut to 100% -- again, before fees. Fees vary from 12% to 30%, depending on whether players buy items directly from the Epic Games Store or from platforms such as the PlayStation Store or the Xbox Store.
Epic has been involved in ongoing legal battles with Apple and Google over app store fees. This year, Fortnite returned to the iOS platform in Europe and to Android devices after being pulled over the disputes.
'The dominant way Gen Z and Gen Alpha play, create and socialize'
One reason that Fortnite is sharing the wealth with community developers is that its biggest competitor, Roblox, has been growing with multiple hit games on its platforms. This month, Roblox boasted that its creators earned more than $1 billion in revenue for 2024.
Roblox's dominance in user-generated content for gaming is likely to have forced Epic's hand toward more monetization.
"This move is a necessary step for Fortnite to stay competitive, but more importantly, it reflects that UGC gaming and the metaverse are already the dominant way Gen Z and Gen Alpha play, create and socialize," said Joe Ferencz, founder and CEO at Gamefam, which helps brands create metaverse games. "The future isn't years away -- it's here now."
Ferencz said that while some players in Fortnite and Roblox do support specific creators, many players simply want to have in-game items for their avatars and to show them off to their friends. Fortnite's move to compensate creators for that, he said, is "another signal that UGC gaming is the place where players get the opportunity to express and explore their self identity -- and it opens up new ways for creators and brands to be part of that culture."
Roblox, meanwhile, has been dealing with other problems, including complaints from parents and child-advocacy groups about safety on the platform. These issues have prompted Roblox to introduce more monitoring and filtering features.