Is The Fortnite Crew System Conning Its Subscribers?
Fortnite is one of the most successful battle royale games of all time. The game being a free-to-play title paves the way for many purchasable cosmetics, emotes, battle pass content, and more, to generate revenue out of the game. Having one of the biggest numbers of young audiences invested in the game, Fortnite continuously evolves and garners the player's attention.
Over the years, the game has introduced new methods of personalising player experience by showcasing different cosmetics, emotes, and wraps, which can be purchased through the item store. Players were also given access to a premium tier of the battle pass, which was packed with exclusive seasonal cosmetics, back blings, emotes, and more.
Apart from these methods, the game hasn’t provided any new ways to get exclusive content from the game. The developers thought it was the right time to introduce a monthly payment-based system that rewards loyal players and generates a steady flow of income. Even though the Fortnite Crew subscription service has been an ambitious attempt to incentivise players to pay for exclusive content, it fails terribly as a business model for the future.
WHAT IS THE FORTNITE CREW SYSTEM?
The Fortnite Crew System was introduced back in December, and it works as a monthly subscription-based service for the players.
Click to enlargeThe £9.99/$11.99/€11.99 package includes free access to the premium tier of the current battle pass, monthly exclusive crew cosmetic, and free 1k V-bucks (in-game currency) to spend as the players want. At first glance, this looks like a fantastic business model as it provides free cosmetics, current battle pass, and more, at such a low recurring price.
The Fortnite Crew pack in December showcased the extraordinary inter-galactic looking cosmetic Galaxia, Empress of the Cosmos. Later, in January, DC superhero Green Arrow made its appearance in the game through the Fortnite Crew pack. Therefore, promotional cosmetics would be a great way to sell the Fortnite Crew pack to the fans of a TV Series or superheroes in general.
However, the Fortnite community was quick to focus on the flaws and instability of the Fortnite Crew system and expressed their worries about the model's future.
FORTNITE CREW SYSTEM’S FAILURE AS A BUSINESS MODEL
So the prices are great, the cosmetics are attractive - what went wrong? Famous Leaker ‘Sexy Nutella’, among some leading gamers highlighted some of the Fortnite Crew system's flaws and stated the problems associated with it.
She stated a very uncanny approach to the monthly Fortnite Crew system. If players buy the Fortnite Crew pack for February from 16th to 28th, they should be receiving the exclusive cosmetics for February as well as the March crew pack. Moreover, with the addition of 1k V-bucks, players might also have a shot of getting the Season 6 battle pass for free, given the next season doesn’t get a delay from the developers. All these benefits just for a price of £9.99 sounds amazing, but here is where it gets worse.
Players buying the crew pack in January would be getting 1k V-bucks and the Green Arrow cosmetic with no February exclusive cosmetic or no battle pass, making it very unfair for them compared to other players. While both of the players are paying the same amount of money, the striking difference in the number of benefits is tilting many players and content creators.
Moreover, there has been a patience reward given to many players recently as many of them didn’t receive the 1k V-bucks as promised with the pack's purchase. To compensate, Epic Games are giving away 500-1000 V-bucks for the players who are impacted by this technical difficulty.
HOW CAN EPIC GAMES FIX THESE FLAWS IN THE FORTNITE CREW SYSTEM?
Click to enlargeThe Fortnite Crew system can be exploited, and as mentioned above, players can buy the package at certain times to reap the most benefits from it. Therefore, eradicating this huge gap of time needs to be the first preference to fix this flaw.
Here are some ways Epic Games can fix the existing Fortnite Crew system:
- Fix the timeline - Most of the problems associated with the current Fortnite Crew pack involve the time factor. Therefore, if the packs have a monthly buy date, for example, if the players could buy them until the 10th of each month, it would fix most of the issues. However, it could be awful for players who aren’t aware of this issue, and there would be fewer sales than usual.
- Make the seasonal battle pass more flexible or rigid - The developers can make the seasonal battle pass be available for only three months or so, and announce it beforehand so that players can plan their purchases for the future and grab the crew pack early.
- Keep a particular exclusive cosmetic for a month - Buying a January Fortnite Crew pack should give the player access to only one cosmetic. Therefore, even if the player tries to purchase the pack at some later date in the month, they wouldn’t have access to the next month’s cosmetic and get that month’s exclusive cosmetic later than others.
Images via Epic Games
