Fortnite Wants You to Pay for Little Animal Friends

Microtransactions are as core to Fortnite as its gunplay, with new battle passes every few months crammed with new cosmetics to grind for and a shop full of limited-time outfits you can buy with their currency V-Bucks. Sidekicks are just another type of cosmetic you can buy, alongside Kicks (shoes added in 2024), gliders, and full outfits based on licensed characters. Unlike all of these, only you and people in your squad (up to four people) can see sidekicks. What’s more, they will not match the style of the LEGO worlds, unlike every player character, so your $15 Sidekick will just distract from the games you play with it with how much it sticks out.

In the announcement video, Epic showed a few Sidekicks based on their original characters that ranged from 1200-1500 V-Bucks. 1000 V-Bucks costs $9, and although players on most platforms can now top up the exact amount they need for purchases in 50 V-Buck increments ($0.49), that still means that most will cost $11 at least, as much as some entire characters. And with licensed Sidekicks surely on the way, the average price is probably going to be higher in a year’s time.

Players will be able to customise their Sidekicks, but only once. Although you will still be able to adorn them in sweaters afterwards, their color and eyes will be locked in after you customize them once. To have the same Sidekick with different appearances, you will have to buy another one at full price. Naturally, this is proving controversial and it wouldn’t be surprising if Epic backtracks on this by next year. For now, you can look forward to Peels in the next battle pass starting November 1 and his fellow sidekicks soon after.