Fortnite Leak Reveals New Annual Battle Pass With Exclusive Cosmetics And More

Epic Games will soon be completely revamping its existing rewards structure in Fortnite, leaks have revealed.

Earlier today, the developer rolled out its latest patch, v11.30, for the battle royale. As usual, a number of balance changes and content additions arrived as part of the update, though it’s the files hidden from plain view that have sparked the most interest this time around. Thanks to the unceasing efforts of Lucas7yoshi, the data miner has uncovered several references to a so-called ‘Annual Pass.’ The feature has yet to be confirmed by any official channels, of course, but in light of the discovery, fans can expect to hear word straight from the horse’s mouth sooner rather than later.

As for what this new monetization method and progression model entails, a product description, as well as a number of cosmetics for the Annual Pass, can be found below.

Purchase the 2020 Annual Pass and receive all the upcoming 2020 Fortnite Battle Royale: Battle Bundles and 7 Annual Pass exclusive cosmetics. Battle Bundles unlock 25% of content in each Battle Pass instantly upon release.

An interesting development, to say the least, but a number of important questions remain.

Perhaps it’s simply a result of poor wording, but the description is somewhat vague when it comes to accounting for Fortnite‘s existing Battle Pass model. The system is clearly being retained for next year’s Annual Pass, and a quarter of each will be unlocked automatically for owners of the latter, but it’s unclear whether each subscription will require a separate purchase. Fans can assuredly expect a more decisive answer in that regard, as well as a firm release date and price, to be provided with the eventual official announcement.

In the meantime, how about a movie? This weekend, Disney and Epic will be teaming up to premiere a brand new scene from Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker in-game. See here for all the details.