Epic Games will has a new way to encourage more custom Fortnite islands: promise a steadier stream of cash. The company has launched a Creator Economy 2.0 system that will proportionately hand out 40 percent of net revenue from most real-money purchases to creators, including Epic. If your island is especially popular or keeps people coming back, you’ll get a larger cut of Item Shop spending and related transactions.
Until now, Fortnite creators received special codes they had to share with fans if they wanted a five percent slice of purchases. However, that approach only worked if players knew to use the code. That left some creators using heavy-handed tactics to promote the code, such as frequent promotion during livestreams or even designing islands around the concept.
Creators can sign up for Economy 2.0 through a portal. People with existing islands who joins on or before April 21st will be paid for engagement dating back to March 1st. To qualify, individuals only need to be 18 years old and have a Fortnite account at least 90 days old. Companies are also eligible.
The news comes as Epic is introducing a free public beta of Unreal Engine for Fortnite. As the name implies, it will eventually bring most of Unreal Engine 5’s tools to creators making islands, games and other experiences inside the shooter. You can edit maps, the environment and game mechanics. Effectively, this should lead to more distinctive (and more polished) third-party projects.
The change to payouts isn’t a shock. According to Activeplayer.io, Fortnite‘s average monthly player counts have gradually declined since peaks in 2020 and 2021. Economy 2.0 could help Epic by rewarding creators of in-demand islands. To some degree, this is also about fending off competition from Roblox. Many companies are building islands in the rival platform to attract younger users — Epic’s move could keep those brands and gamers onboard.
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Jon Fingas