‘Fortnite’ Players Are Spending Ridiculous Amounts of Money on and for the Game

At this point, there’s really no denying that “Fortnite Battle Royale” is a genuine cultural phenomenon. It’s one of the most popular games in history and is making money hand over fist as a result. In fact, recent reports reveal that players are prepared to spend a ridiculous amount of money to both buy the game and continue playing it.

A good example of just how much “Fortnite” players are spending on the game would be the increased prices of the title’s physical copies. Some physical discs of the game are now retailing at $450 with the average resale value being at $130, Ars Technica reports. What’s more, this is the “Save the World” version of the title. It’s not the battle royale mode, which anyone can just download for free.

That last part is why the game has gotten as popular as it is now, in the first place. It’s why “Fortnite” was able to overtake “PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds” and supplant it as the dominant battle royale game on the market. As such, it’s a wonder that gamers are willing to pay so much for physical copies of a mode of the title that isn’t even the reason for its popularity.

This isn’t to say that players are not spending money on the free-to-play (F2P) version of the game, either. In fact, a recent study indicates that players are spending an average of $84.67 for in-game cosmetic items, Comicbook.com reports. The study also notes that up to 68.8 percent of the players on the F2P mode have spent money on it.

Considering that the price of many AAA video games upon launch is $60, this means that Epic Game’s free battle royale title is making more money than many paid games of that caliber. Even when adding the $20 for the average Season Passes, the difference is still present.