Fortnite | The Verge

Fortnite developers can make AI characters now — just don’t try to date them

2026-04-20T13:39:32-04:00

Following last year's AI-powered Darth Vader in Fortnite that swore in a re-creation of James Earl Jones' voice, Epic Games is now letting Fortnite creators experiment with a new "conversations" tool to create AI-powered characters that players can talk and interact with.

"Instead of authoring dialogue trees for characters in your islands, conversations transforms an NPC into an AI-powered character capable of unscripted dialogue and interactions with players, like a quest giver or narrator," Epic says. "You define who the character is with simple prompts-how they think, what they know, and how they behave-and then select a voice that match …

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Disney’s big bets on the metaverse and AI slop aren’t going so well

2026-04-03T11:59:15-04:00

Less than a week into his tenure as Disney's newly appointed CEO, Josh D'Amaro, is already dealing with two separate crises that have cast a shadow over the company's future plans. OpenAI is shutting down its Sora image-generation program just months after Disney announced a $1 billion dollar collaboration to bake the tech into Disney Plus. And Fortnite maker Epic is laying off 1,000 employees at a time when we've heard basically nothing about the game studio's $1.5 billion investment deal with Disney to build a metaverse.

Disney could still integrate generative AI into its streaming service, and we might end up seeing some version of the c …

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Live-service games are such a mess even Fortnite is struggling

2026-03-25T12:25:13-04:00

For years, major game publishers and developers have been chasing a particular north star: Fortnite. With its internet-shaking live events and copious celebrity cameos, Epic's battle royale shooter became the epitome of what a live-service game could be, one that reached a level of cultural ubiquity that few other entertainment products could match while also raking in all kinds of money. And much of the games industry followed suit in an attempt to get a Fortnite-like cash cow of their own.

The results were disastrous. The biggest live-service games soaked up all of players' time and money, leaving everyone else to fight for scraps. Layoff …

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Fortnite maker Epic is laying off over 1,000 workers

2026-03-24T11:38:17-04:00

Layoffs have hit Fortnite developer Epic Games again. Today CEO Tim Sweeney announced that the company is cutting more than 1,000 jobs, citing a downturn in engagement for Fortnite dating back to last year. "This layoff, together with over $500 million of identified cost savings in contracting, marketing, and closing some open roles puts us in a more stable place," he wrote.

The layoffs follow a reduction of more than 800 roles in 2023. Sweeney's note listed a number of industry-wide issues that have plagued the live-service games space over the last several years, including increased competition and reduced consumer spending. But he also a …

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Epic and Disney now let Fortnite creators make Star Wars games

2026-03-19T08:30:18-04:00

Epic Games and Disney are making a big announcement as part of their continually deepening relationship. In June, Epic announced that Fortnite creators would "soon" be able to make custom Star Wars-themed games and experiences, and starting Thursday that feature is finally launching. While creators can start making experiences now, they'll be able to publish them for players to jump into beginning May 1st.

Since announcing the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (UEFN), the tool that lets creators build experiences that sit alongside Epic's own modes like battle royale and Fortnite Festival, Epic started introducing a handful of big-name franchises …

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Epic says its Fortnite V-bucks price hike is a ‘direct correlation’ to operating costs

2026-03-13T10:30:48-04:00

Epic Games announced this week that Fortnite's in-game V-bucks currency would be getting more expensive with a somewhat glib statement: "The cost of running Fortnite has gone up a lot and we're raising prices to help pay the bills," the company wrote. The price hike will go into effect on March 19th, the same day the next major Fortnite season debuts, and enough users have complained about the increase that an Epic staffer acknowledged the protests on a post on Reddit.

But when The Verge asked Epic executives at the GDC Festival of Gaming this week if they could be specific about why the company raised the price, they didn't say much more.

…

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V-bucks are getting more X-pensive

2026-03-10T10:02:50-04:00

Everything is more expensive now, even Fortnite's in-game currency. Starting on March 19th, V-bucks packs will include less of the premium currency at the same prices. For instance, players can currently get 1,000 V-bucks for $8.99, but after the price increases they will only get 800 V-bucks at the same rate. The price of exact amount packs is increasing from $0.50 per 50 V-bucks to $0.99 per 50 V-bucks.

Epic is also adjusting the price of Fortnite's Battle Pass, which will now cost 800 V-bucks to access and reward 800 V-bucks upon completion, rather than costing and awarding 1,000 V-bucks as it currently does. Unfortunately, Battle Pass …

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The Jeffrey Epstein Fortnite account is fake

2026-02-06T14:02:23-05:00

Fortnite developer Epic Games says the account some people believed to be linked to Jeffrey Epstein is a "ruse." In a reply on X, the developer writes, "an existing Fortnite account owner changed their username" to "littlestjeff1," an alias spotted in several emailed receipts from YouTube in the Epstein files.

The email suggests that "littlestjeff1" may have been connected to Epstein's YouTube account, prompting online sleuths to search for the username on other platforms. Users later uncovered a "littlestjeff1" account on Fortnite, along with a 2019 email that mentions purchasing VBucks in Fortnite - though the sender and recipient are red …

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Fortnite is about to get a lot more gaming crossovers

2026-02-02T19:11:04-05:00

Fortnite is going to be getting a lot more crossovers featuring characters from video games. As part of the Epic Games Store's year in review for 2025, Epic shared details about its official program for developers that will give people who purchase their game on the Epic Games Store a related cosmetic they can use within Fortnite.

Eventually, the goal is to scale the program to "over 100 partnerships per year," Epic Games Store GM Steve Allison said on X last month. In an interview with The Verge, Allison says that there will be "about 40" this year and "60-plus" so far set for 2027. The program starts with Capcom's Resident Evil Requiem, w …

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Fortnite blocks creators from selling prize wheel spins

2026-01-16T15:20:42-05:00

A prize wheel in Steal The Brainrot.

Epic Games is making a big change to the rules for Fortnite creators just days after allowing them to publish experiences with in-game transactions. Beginning January 20th, experiences - which Epic Games calls "islands" - will not be able to offer in-island transactions as "a 'spin' or 'increased luck' for a prize wheel," according to an Epic staffer on Reddit.

Epic is adding the rule after Steal The Brainrot, one of the biggest non-Epic games available to play in Fortnite, implemented a prize wheel that let players pay V-Bucks (Fortnite's in-game currency) for spins and luck to acquire in-game items. Steal The Brainrot also added lootboxes …

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