To be specific, Epic Games has recently come under fire for selling a reskinned version of one of their in-game pet dogs, Bonesy. The new version, named Gunner, is slightly lighter in color, with a different color of eyes and a white emblem on their bandana.
So why is this a big deal? As many social media commenters commented, most cosmetic items are reskins of previous items instead of completely new creations. This allows companies to make more items for those that like them to enjoy without having to sink production funds into making them. Take a look at skins in any champion-based game like Overwatch or League of Legends and you’ll see that a good chunk of them do nothing more than change the color a bit.
A good bit of the backlash comes from the fact that Gunner, the new reskinned version, was a Battle Pass exclusive item. The only way to get him was to have purchased a Battle Pass for Fortnite, granting you exclusive items. Epic Games even assured players that they would never be releasing Battle Pass items for sale and that they would remain exclusive.
Gunner’s sale is more than just a lazy reskin of a previously existing cosmetic item, but proof of Epic Games going back on their word if it meant a couple more V-bucks in their pocket. If they cared so little that they released the item, surely they must be unrepentant over it?
We should not have released the Gunner Pet and apologize for doing so. Within the next couple of days, all purchases of Gunner will be refunded for the full amount of 1000 V-bucks as well as an additional 200 V-bucks and the Pet will be removed from the Locker.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 14, 2019
“We should not have released the Gunner Pet and apologize for doing so,” Epic Games said in a statement over the issue. So nope, Epic Games agrees that they messed up, and regret releasing the cosmetic item. They’re even offering refund tokens good for any eligible items, as well as 200 V-bucks to anyone who purchased the pet.
Frankly, it feels incredibly hollow. Fortnite is a massive game with over a quarter billion registered accounts. The release of a new item in the in-game store isn’t something that a random first-year intern did with no oversight but something that had to go through multiple channels before being released into the game. If it was put in the game, it was put in because Epic felt that it should be in the game.
In this case, Epic likely felt it needed to be in the game because it would make them more money. Immediately following the backlash, they took it out and said that it should never have been there. But where was that foresight before the damage was done?
