Sep 18, 2025

In December, developers will be able to sell items directly from their Fortnite islands, opening up new revenue potential, in addition to receiving engagement payouts from Fortnite item shop sales.

Developers will ordinarily earn 50% of the V-Bucks value from sales in their islands, but from December 2025 through the end of 2026, the rate will be 100%.

To determine the V-Bucks value in US dollars in a given month, we take all customer real-money spending to purchase V-Bucks (converted to US Dollars), subtract platform and store fees (ranging from 12% on Epic Games Store to 30% on current consoles), and divide it by the total V-Bucks spent by players. Fortnite’s average platform and store fees are currently 26% (with specific fees ranging from 12% on the Epic Games Store to 30% on console platforms). So, 50% of V-Bucks value translates to ~37% of retail spending, and 100% of V-Bucks value translates to ~74%.

Developers will use a Verse-based API and new UEFN tools to create and offer purchasable durable items and consumable items in their games. We’ll share more details soon.

Share of In-Game Sales Distributed to Creators

Roblox figure reflects the percentage advertised on the company’s “Earn on Roblox” page here.

Updated Engagement Payout Formula with User Acquisition Rewards

In addition to in-game item sales, Fortnite creators will continue to receive payouts based on player engagement in their islands. The engagement payout formula places 40% of the net revenue from Fortnite’s Item Shop and related real-money purchases into the engagement pool, which is distributed among creators’ and Epic’s islands.

We will update the engagement payout formula on November 1 to better reward creators for bringing in new or reengaging lapsed players in Fortnite. Creators that bring in new or lapsed players will receive 75% of those players’ contributions to the engagement payout pool for their first six months.

We’ll also factor in signals from direct links, in-game search usage, and first-day playtime patterns when attributing new and lapsed players to an island. Additionally, the retention component of engagement payouts will now reward island-specific retention, rather than ecosystem-wide retention to better align with creators’ own efforts in growing this metric.

Further, to help combat fraudulent engagement, the engagement payout formula will only consider players who have made purchases on their accounts. This will not reduce the total engagement payout pool, but shifts the calculation so that playtime from non-payers is not considered.

The engagement payout formula now covers the following components:

• Minutes Played
• New User Acquisition
• Lapsed User Acquisition
• Playtime Surrounding V-Bucks Spend
• Island Retention

Sponsored Row in Discover

In November, we’re adding a prominent Sponsored Row in Discover so that creators can choose to spend money to receive increased visibility for their islands. All creators will have transparent market data to bid for placement in the row and enter an auction to surface islands in the new Sponsored Row. All other rows in Discover will remain unchanged, continuing to provide organic visibility to islands.

Long-term, 50% of sponsorship revenue generated by Sponsored Row will go into the engagement payout pool, boosting the pool size for all creators. From launch through the end of 2026, this rate will be 100%.

Sponsored Experiences Distribution

Starting November 17, 2025, creators will be able to set up campaigns inside the Creator Portal, bid on placement and get comfortable with the tools. Creators will easily be able to adjust their spend to meet their goals, whether that’s maintaining a small player base for iterating on early content or supporting a major island launch or update.

Then on November 24, 2025, the new Sponsored Row section will go live in Discover, giving creators a predictable, scalable way to improve discovery.

Together with insights, A/B testing, and publishing tools, Sponsored Row will help fuel a cycle where more visibility drives better analytics, faster testing, and data-driven decisions to grow and sustain audiences.

Not final designs. Subject to change.

Fortnite Creator Communities

In the next few months, we plan to launch Fortnite Creator Communities, a new way for creators to connect and share updates directly with their players on the web and in Fortnite, by posting messages including text and images.

Creators will be able to build community forums with island updates, event information, feedback requests, and more. Creator posts will also appear to players in Fortnite across Island Lobbies, Island Pages, Creator Pages and a new row in Discover. Players can react directly to posts (via likes) in Fortnite, and reply to posts on the web. Players will also receive notifications for relevant updates from the creators they follow.

By opening these dedicated channels between creators and players, creators will have more tools to foster engagement, gather feedback, and build lasting communities.

Not final designs. Subject to change

Thin Client

We recently shipped updates to Thin Client to improve the downloading speed and size of Fortnite on mobile and PC. Later this year, players will be able to choose to update and play creator-made islands before other game modes are installed. Reducing the install size of Fortnite is a phased project, and we have more planned for this year and next and next. Follow the Fortnite Creator Roadmap for detailed updates.

Thank You

Since UEFN launched, players have spent over 11.2 billion hours across 260,000 live creator-made islands, which has resulted in $722,000,000 paid out to date. We’ll continue investing in new tools that unlock more development possibilities for creators. Stay tuned for more details as we get closer to launching these updates.

---

FAQ

**Q. Why is Epic keeping the other 50% from in-game item sales and Sponsored Row? **A. This model will enable Epic to cover the costs of servicing the Fortnite ecosystem. The funds that don’t go back to creators contribute to server hosting costs, safety and moderation costs, R&D and other operating expenses. In recent years, Epic has been investing and operating the business at a loss.

Q. What are creators allowed to sell? A. Creators can sell the digital durable and consumable items that they build for their games. At this time, sales will be limited to digital items only (no physical goods like t-shirts). Sales must follow applicable law and follow our Island Creator Rules and other policies. Items may also be restricted by region, age, and content rating requirements.

**Q. What are the platform and store fees? **A. Platform fees charged by console platforms such as Nintendo, PlayStation, Xbox, and streaming services who process payments; store fees are fees charged by independent stores hosting Fortnite and by retailers selling Epic/V-Bucks cards. These fees range from 12% (for payments processed via Epic Games Store) to 30% on current console platforms.

**Q. Why does the V-Bucks value fluctuate? **A. To determine the V-Bucks value in US dollars in a given month, we take all customer US dollar spending to purchase V-Bucks in dollars, subtract platform and store fees (ranging from 12% on Epic Games Store to 30% on current consoles), and divide it by the total V-Bucks spent by players. This value fluctuates over time based on a few factors including:

• Discounted or Earned V-Bucks: Players purchase and earn V-Bucks through things like Crew memberships and Battle Pass. This shifts the average value of V-Bucks in circulation.
• Purchase Mix: The cost of a V-Buck depends on which bundle a player buys.
• Foreign Exchange (“FX”) & Regional Pricing: Changes in FX and regional pricing may also cause fluctuations.