Fortnite Chapter 7 Season 1 has been one of the game's longest seasons ever at just under four months long, leaving players ready for fresh content. Season 2 was originally scheduled for the beginning of March but was recently delayed by two weeks and will now start on Thursday, March 19. Yet despite this long buildup, the community response has been decidedly mixed, largely overshadowed by a set of pricing changes that Epic Games announced alongside the gameplay announcements.
The headline gameplay feature for Season 2 is the skyzip device, which will allow players to move around by launching a balloon with a zipline attached to it for quick getaways. The Skyzip spawns a balloon and can be used to get to high ground, offering a new tactical option for positioning during matches. Several new weapons are also in action, including the Foundation's Rift Rifle. The launch trailer emphasises narrative stakes, with the Foundation's imminent faceoff against the Ice King as the season's central conflict.
However, the economic picture tells a different story. Epic Games is cutting the amount of V-Bucks included in the battle pass from 1,500 to 800, and the amount players receive each month from Fortnite Crew from 1,000 to 800. More significantly, players will receive fewer V-Bucks for the same purchase price across most pack tiers; the $8.99 pack will now provide 800 V-Bucks instead of 1,000. This structure affects all currency bundles, making cosmetics and the battle pass itself more expensive when calculated in dollars per item.
Epic has acknowledged player concerns and emphasised its commitment to Fortnite gameplay and content development, while maintaining that the price changes are necessary due to operating costs. The company stated that the cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot, and they're raising prices to help pay the bills. To offset the changes, Epic is introducing 20 percent back in Epic Rewards for purchases made using its own payment system through the Epic Games Store, with rewards applying to transactions in Fortnite, Fall Guys, and Rocket League across PC, mobile, and web platforms.
The community response has been stark. Many players have expressed frustration online, with some organising a boycott to reduce spending and engagement; a petition calling for a reversal of the decision has gathered over 1,000 signatures. Some players have called for a coordinated boycott on the first day of the new season. Yet the numbers suggest Epic's calculation was different. Fortnite is no longer seeing the massive growth in players it had a few years ago, and although it still boasts one of the largest player bases of any video game, not bringing in as many new players likely means Epic's profits have become stagnant.
Bugs Bunny will be on the battle pass, alongside Overwatch collaboration skins including Tracer, D.Va, Genji, and Mercy, efforts Epic is leaning on to drive engagement. Save the World, the game's original mode, will go free-to-play next month, leading to the entirety of Fortnite being free to experience moving forward. Whether new content and fresh gameplay mechanics can overcome the friction created by the pricing restructure remains an open question. Now that players can actually see what's in store in Season 2, the discourse will likely drift back toward the actual game.