A new update is coming to Fortnite in December, and it will enable creators to sell in-game Fortnite items directly to other players, as well as allow players to pay for visibility on the new marketplace.
Starting this December, Fortnite players will be able to open their own marketplaces and sell their items directly from their own islands to other players. This new feature opens up new revenue potential, as well as letting players pay for spots on ‘Sponsored Row,’ to boost visibility of their marketplace. This update comes in on the heels of the V-Bucks update, which allows fans to purchase items for the exact amount of V-Bucks without having change left over.
To celebrate the new announcement, Epic Games has announced that players will earn 100 percent of their earnings from sales on the marketplace through the end of 2026. Developers will ordinarily earn 50% of the V-Bucks value after the first year concludes. The announcement also details notable fees creators will have to pay to sell on the marketplace, which means when Epic Games says creators get 100 percent of their earnings through the end of 2026, they mean 74 percent (by their metric, 50 percent turns into 37 percent on in-game sales profit).
This announcement follows the latest update to land on Battle Island, called Fortnite Delulu. The update lets players join limited-time game modes and hear each other through proximity chat. Items sold in the new in-game marketplace can include power-ups, weapons or cosmetic items, and they usually remain within the boundaries of the creator’s island. Along with the option to sell items, creators will be able to pay to advertise their storefronts in a new Sponsored Row, which gives them greater visibility in the game’s Discover menu.
With the marketplace update, Fortnite is also changing its engagement payout formula to add user acquisition rewards. Creators will continue to receive payouts based on player engagement on their individual islands. The payout formula takes 40 per cent of net revenue from Fortnite’s Item Shop and related real-money purchases, and puts that amount into the engagement pool. Those funds are then distributed among creators and Epic’s islands.
The engagement payout formula now covers the following components according to Epic Games: Minutes Played, New User Acquisition, Lapsed User Acquisition, Playtime Surrounding V-Bucks Spending, and Island Retention, making Fortnite islands operate similarly to other online economies. If a player brings more players into Fortnite, Epic Games will reward them.
The new Fortnite update will land in-game in December 2025. Fans can check out all of the details over on the Epic Games website in the meantime.
