Epic Games is under fire after a wave of Fortnite items and V-Bucks were removed from player accounts on Thursday. The rollback, which Epic says targeted “fraudulent purchases,” was linked to a long-standing Xbox refund glitch. But many players claim legitimate, paid-for items were wiped, fueling a heated debate over digital ownership and player rights.
The Fortnite subreddit exploded with outrage as users discovered their skins, emotes, and currency missing. In-game messages labeled the removals as “fraudulent purchases,” but players say some of these items were bought months or even years ago.
Epic’s Explanation: Xbox Refund Glitch
Epic Games clarified the situation in a Friday post via @FortniteStatus. The company revealed that a bug on Xbox had delayed the removal of items purchased with refunded or fraudulent V-Bucks. Once fixed, Epic performed a mass cleanup.
According to a follow-up statement, the glitch allowed players to buy V-Bucks, request a Microsoft refund, and still keep the currency, essentially giving them free items. Epic insists the revocations were accurate and affected only Xbox users.
The Fortnite Status Bot further clarified the following:
To clarify: items are only revoked for players who either made legitimate refunds starting in December OR took advantage of an exploit on Xbox that faked V-Bucks purchases. This does not affect regular purchases on Xbox or any other platform that weren’t refunded.
byu/FortniteStatusBot inFortNiteBR[1][2][3]
Fortnite Players Claim Legit Purchases Were Hit
Despite the explanation, Reddit threads on r/FortNiteBR and r/FortniteFashion angry posts do not seem to go away. Thousands of players say they lost legitimate purchases, including rare skins and emotes. Some shared proof of buying V-Bucks through gift cards, only to have items removed anyway.
Many fear they may never be able to get these cosmetics back due to Fortnite’s rotating shop. One comment on these subreddits wrote:
“So 7 months ago, a 13,500 V-bucks transaction was made on my account accidentally… Fast forward 7 months later, Epic games just took every item I’ve purchased these past 7 months… all taken out with no ability to appeal.”
“I recently bought these from the item shop, but when I logged in I got a prompt saying they were refunded. I’ve seen others talking about gifting, but I had just purchased these myself.”
Some are genuinely curious if the whole thing is legitimate or not:
“So either a whole lot of people are lying or a whole lot of people are innocent and caught in the crossfire.”
Fortnite Players & Digital Ownership
The Fortnite refund glitch has sparked bigger questions about digital ownership. If players can lose items they legally bought, what rights do they really have? Many are calling for:
- Better support channels for disputing wrongful removals.
- Transparency from Epic on how decisions are made.
- Safeguards to prevent future glitches from wiping paid content.
Epic now faces a choice: restore player confidence with clearer processes. Or risk losing long-time fans to competing games. In a world where billions are spent on in-game cosmetics, trust is everything.
References
- ^ To clarify: items are only revoked for players who either made legitimate refunds starting in December OR took advantage of an exploit on Xbox that faked V-Bucks purchases. This does not affect regular purchases on Xbox or any other platform that weren’t refunded. (www.reddit.com)
- ^ u/FortniteStatusBot (www.reddit.com)
- ^ FortNiteBR (www.reddit.com)