Fortnite: Players may get V-Bucks for Dragon Ball’s Shenron glider addition in Shop

Fortnite Battle Royale players may receive free V-Bucks from Epic Games soon, according to popular Fortnite content creator Tabor Hill. The bonus may come after the developer released a previously free in-game item, the Shenron glider, in its Item Shop.

Epic released a Fortnite x Dragon Ball Super collaboration in August 2022. The collaboration introduced several cosmetic items to Fortnite, including four characters from the popular anime. In addition to purchasing items in the Shop, players can also obtain free items — including the Shenron glider — by joining the Power Unleashed event.

To win the free items, Power Unleashed participants must collect seven Dragon Balls. Players had to complete numerous challenges across different categories, which might take hours.

On December 30, 2022, Epic put the Shenron glider in the Shop. The developer also added several cosmetics that were previously free, like the Dragon Radar Back Bling and two emotes. Players can purchase the Dragon Ball bundle for 2,300 V-Bucks or obtain the items separately with the Shenron glider being the most expensive item.

Although Hill said Epic might reimburse players for their time, some players argued that the Dragon Ball items were not exclusive to the event. They pointed out Epic’s statement released alongside the items last August.

“Please note that the in-game rewards Dragon Radar Back Bling and Shenron Glider are not exclusive to Power Unleashed and may be available later in the Item Shop for purchase,” Epic said.

In the past few months, Epic offered several refunds and free V-Bucks to players. The biggest refund was the $245 million that Epic must distribute among millions of Fortnite players as a part of a penalty from the Federal Trade Commission (FTC).

According to the FTC, Epic had deceived players into making unintentional in-game buys using the “dark patterns” method. The federal agency said Fortnite’s interface involved counterintuitive, inconsistent and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button.”

Even when users thought the game was in sleeping mode or showing a loading screen, they might accidentally purchase items when pressing certain buttons. The FTC said the tactics led to unauthorized charges worth hundreds of millions of dollars.

In addition to deceiving consumers, FTC also said that Epic had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. Fortnite enabled underage children to buy in-game currency without parental approval. Parents had filed complaints, saying their children accumulated hundreds of dollars in credit card charges without the parents realizing it.

Epic must pay $520 million for these two charges a part of it was for the aforementioned reimbursement. The Fortnite developer agreed to pay the penalty.

“We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players,” Epic said.

FTC explained that users did not need to do “anything” to receive the reimbursement in the meantime. The agency would post updates on its website and customers who had made in-game purchases would receive notifications via email.

Chapter 4 almost unplayable on older consoles

Epic received compliments after releasing the latest Fortnite chapter, Chapter 4, last December. The new update offers improvement in the form of better mechanics and new items. However, players who are using older consoles have said that the new chapter is “almost unplayable” in their systems.

Chapter 4 can run smoothly on PCs, Xbox series X and PlayStation 5. Some players reported that they ran into various issues when running the game on PlayStation 4 and Xbox Series X.

When the character attempted to take down an enemy, the screen might freeze momentarily in older consoles. At this time, the Fortnite character became vulnerable to attacks and influenced the gaming experience. It is likely that Epic will resolve this issue when the company operates again starting on January 3.