If you've been online this week, you've probably seen Fortnite's name pop up somewhere unexpected. That's becoming increasingly by design. Epic Games is pushing hard into a new era of cross-promotional deals, where buying a game on the Epic Games Store earns you free cosmetics in Fortnite. And in 2026, the company is going all in.
Steve Allison, general manager for the Epic Games Store, announced in January that Epic hopes to run as many as 100 of these collaborations per year. To put that in perspective, Fortnite has historically run one or two of these promos at a time. Going to 100 annually is a different beast entirely.
How the deals actually work
The basic premise is straightforward. Buy an eligible game on the Epic Games Store, whether at full price or during a sale, and you'll receive a Fortnite cosmetic item. That could be a skin, an emote, a glider, a back bling, a pickaxe, or some combination. These deals are PC and mobile only. Console purchases do not qualify, and neither does buying the same game through Steam or another storefront.
Any cosmetic tied to these promotions will also appear in the Fortnite item shop for direct purchase with V-Bucks. If you buy a skin from the item shop and then later purchase the linked game, Epic will refund you the V-Bucks equivalent. The reverse also applies: refund the game, and you lose the skin. So no, you cannot game the system by buying and immediately returning.
Unlike older promotions that expired after roughly a year, most of this new wave carries no end date. As long as the game remains available on the Epic Games Store, the deal is live. That means patient shoppers can wait for a discount and still claim the cosmetic.
The games in the current lineup
Resident Evil Requiem is one of the launch titles for this initiative. Buying any version of the game on the Epic Games Store grants you the Grace Ashcroft skin in Fortnite. Her accessories are not bundled with the game deal, but they may appear in the item shop separately for V-Bucks.
Crimson Desert, the open-world action RPG from Pearl Abyss, offers the Kliff skin when purchased through the Epic Games Store. The skin unlocks when the game launches on March 19.
Honkai Star Rail works a little differently since the game is free-to-play. To unlock the Stellaron Hunter Blade skin, you need to make an eligible real-money purchase from the Epic Games Store of at least $12. Eligible options include The Nameless Glory ($12), Honor Badge ($20), The Nameless Medal ($20), Special Pass Exclusive Gift Box ($15), and Oneiric Shards bundles of $15 or more. The Stellaron Hunter Kafka skin is available only through the item shop with V-Bucks and is not part of this promotion.
Borderlands 4 is the one deal in the current batch with an expiration date: September 12, 2026. That's because the promo started before Epic formalised this new initiative. Buying the game on the Epic Games Store gives you the Mad Moxxi skin plus a bundle that includes a back bling and a pickaxe, making it arguably the most complete cosmetic package in the current lineup.
Kernel Hearts is the wildcard. The Argentinian indie title doesn't have a confirmed release date yet, but the developers have already started teasing their Fortnite collaboration on social media. What cosmetics will actually be included remains unconfirmed for now.
What this means for Australian players
Let's be real: for Australian gamers, the catch is pricing. The Epic Games Store displays prices in Australian dollars, but the exchange rate and regional pricing decisions mean these deals don't always line up the way you'd hope. A $12 USD minimum spend on Honkai Star Rail microtransactions, for example, translates to something closer to $19 to $20 AUD at current rates, depending on which bundle you choose.
That said, the no-expiry structure on most of these deals is genuinely consumer-friendly. Waiting for a sale on a game you were planning to buy anyway, and picking up a Fortnite skin in the process, is a reasonable proposition. Whether Epic's aggressive push toward 100 annual collaborations dilutes the appeal of these cosmetics over time is a fair question. Scarcity has always been part of what makes Fortnite skins feel valuable to their community. Flood the market with tie-in deals, and the calculus may shift.
For now, though, the programme represents one of the more creative cross-promotional strategies in the gaming space, and players who are active across multiple games stand to benefit most.