Pet-like companions are coming to Fortnite, but the leaked prices might make you reconsider adopting one of these critters.
Earlier this week, Fortnite announced it was bringing Sidekick companions into the fray from this weekend, with the first being a banana dog named Peels.
More Sidekicks are set to arrive over the coming weeks, including Bonesy, Spike, and Lil’ Raptor on November 7. If equipped, they will join you across the battle royale and Lego Fortnite modes, and can be customised with different traits and cosmetics.
They’re suitably adorable on the outside, as you might expect, but a leaker has discovered that, just like real pets, they cost a fortune to keep.
How much are Fortnite sidekick pet prices?
As revealed by Fortnite leaker ShiinaBR, the prices for sidekicks at the outset range from 1,200 to 1,500 V-Bucks. This is the same price as the collaboration skins with other IP, with the recent Alien: Earth xenomorph skin costing 1,500 V-Bucks.
In actual money, this means sidekicks can cost just over £10 (1,000 V-Bucks cost £6.99) and around $15 in the US.
Expert, exclusive gaming analysis
Sign up to the GameCentral newsletter for a unique take on the week in gaming, alongside the latest reviews and more. Delivered to your inbox every Saturday morning.
While this isn’t necessarily surprising on the surface, Epic Games is expecting players to fork out extra cash if you want to customise Sidekick’s more than once.
As outlined on the announcement post, ‘You can customise the appearance of your Sidekick one time after obtaining it. You can purchase a Sidekick multiple times and give them different appearances; however, each Sidekick customisation you own in your Locker must be unique. Duplicate appearances are not allowed.’
It’s a bizarrely rigid rule, and naturally, people aren’t too happy about the prices being so inflated. ‘1,200 V-Bucks and if we want to change our pets we have [to] buy a new one…. OH HELL NO,’ one X user wrote.
‘I’m really about to spend $15 on a virtual fish wow,’ another added, while one user replied: ‘Yeah I need what Epic’s smoking cause this is insane.’
While the Sidekicks will follow you around and react to the world, they won’t actually be visible to enemy players. It’s understandable to an extent, so they don’t distract from the shooting, but it does raise the question of what’s the point of splashing so much money on a cosmetic you won’t be able to even show off.
On the bright side, those who already own the Bonesy Back Bling will be given the Bonesy sidekick for free, when it comes out on November 7.
Email gamecentral@metro.co.uk, leave a comment below, follow us on Twitter.
To submit Inbox letters and Reader’s Features more easily, without the need to send an email, just use our Submit Stuff page here.
For more stories like this, check our Gaming page.
