Epic Games has announced that Fortnite developers will be able to sell items directly from Fortnite islands, starting this December.
The developer further added that from December 2025 through the end of 2026, the V-Buck value from sales in islands paid out to creators will rise from a rate of 50% to 100%.
In-Game Item Sales Create New Revenue Potential
In a bid to create ‘new revenue potential’ for island developers, Epic Games announced that there will be new Unreal Editor for Fortnite tools and Verse-based API to create purchasable items in games.
The update is applicable to those who have signed up to the Island Creator programme, which allows creators to use exclusive branded assets and earn pay-outs based on island engagement.
The V-Bucks value from US dollars will be determined each month, taking real money spending, subtracting platform/store fees (around 12% on the Epic Games store, 30% on consoles), and dividing by the total V-Bucks spent by players.
As highlighted prior, creators would previously receive a share of in-game sales from 50% of the V-Bucks value. However, from December 2025 through the end of 2026, the rate will be 100%.
Moreover, Epic Games also clarified details surrounding the share of in-game sales that will be distributed to creators. Creators will receive 74% of in-game sales until December 31st, 2026, and 37% of sales starting January 1st, 2027.
According to the Fortnite developer, the rates are higher in comparison to Roblox, which shares 25% of in-experience dollars spent.
Engagement Updates
The blog by Epic Games also shared additional updates coming to Fortnite regarding revenue shared with creators.
As it stands, the engagement payout formula sits at 40% of net revenue from purchases made in Fortnite’s item shop. This is scheduled to be updated on November 1st to ‘better reward creators’, granting those who attract new or returning players 75% of those players’ contributions to the engagement payout during their first six months.
Other factors will also be considered for engagement, such as signals from direct links, in-game searches, and playtime patterns on an island. Furthermore, retention will now be specific to each island as opposed to ‘ecosystem-wide’.
The engagement payout formula now covers the following components:
- Minutes Played
- New User Acquisition
- Lapsed User Acquisition
- Playtime Surrounding V-Bucks Spend
- Island Retention
To combat fraudulent forms of engagement, the payout formula will only count players with purchases on their accounts, taking non-payers out of the equation.
Sponsored Row
A Sponsored Row is also being added to the Discover page, allowing creators to place bids to further promote their islands through an auction for placements.
November 17th will see creators able to set up campaigns in the Creator Portal, but it won’t be until November 24th that the Sponsored Row section will go live.
From its launch in November to December 31st, 2026, 100% of revenue generated from the Sponsored Row will go into the payout, and will drop to 50% starting January 1st, 2027.
Additional Updates
Fortnite will launch the Creator Communities programme within ‘the next few months’, which allows developers to create a community forum to post updates for islands, gain feedback, and post event information. Players will then be able to interact with the post via likes in Fortnite and through replies on the web.
Changes were also rolled out on the Thin Client to improve download speeds and size for both mobile and PC platforms.
Epic Games also added that ‘later this year’, a quality of life change will be made where players opening up Fortnite can choose to update and play islands before other game modes like LEGO Fortnite Expeditions are installed.
