Fortnitemares 2026 Launches with Big Collabs and Price Drama

Scream and Texas Chain Saw Massacre Arrive on the Island

Fortnitemares has officially returned for 2026, and Epic Games is pulling out all the stops to terrify players—both on the battlefield and when they look at their virtual wallets. The annual Halloween event kicked off this week with highly anticipated horror movie crossovers. But while the addition of silver-screen icons has sparked plenty of excitement, a sudden shift in how Epic prices its returning classic skins has left a sour taste in the community’s mouth.

This year’s headliners are massive. Ghostface, the infamous masked killer from the Scream franchise, has finally made his way to the island. He arrives alongside Leatherface from The Texas Chain Saw Massacre. Players can pick up Ghostface for 1,800 V-Bucks, a price that includes his signature hunting knife as a harvesting tool and a voice-box emote that plays classic lines from the movies. Leatherface comes in at 1,500 V-Bucks, complete with a rusted chainsaw back bling that revs whenever you get an elimination.

Spooky Gameplay and Silent Price Hikes

For many slasher fans, these additions are a dream come true. The designs are incredibly faithful to the films. Epic even added a temporary gameplay item to the battle royale map: a usable chainsaw that lets players dash forward and shred builds. It is chaotic, loud, and incredibly fun.

But the mood turned quickly when the Item Shop refreshed on the second night.

Veteran players immediately noticed something off with the classic Fortnitemares skins. Popular outfits like Skull Trooper, Ghoul Trooper, and the highly sought-after Shadow Midas made their return. However, they were not sold in their traditional, discounted bundles. Instead, Epic Games decoupled the character skins from their matching gliders and pickaxes, forcing players to buy each piece individually.

The math quickly added up to a steep price hike. In previous years, the complete Shadow Midas bundle cost 2,000 V-Bucks. Buying the same items individually now costs 3,200 V-Bucks. That is a 60% increase for content that is several years old.

Get Know Instant Access

Community Backlash and Leaker Warnings

The backlash on social media was instant. On the Fortnite competitive Reddit page, a thread criticizing the new pricing model quickly gathered thousands of upvotes. “Epic is getting incredibly greedy,” wrote one user. “Decoupling bundles just to squeeze an extra ten dollars out of people who missed these skins last year is a terrible look.”

Prominent Fortnite community leaker and analyst ShiinaBR chimed in on X, noting that this appears to be a systemic change in how Epic plans to handle legacy holiday cosmetics moving forward. “It seems Epic is moving away from discount bundles for older seasonal items,” they posted. “If you didn’t buy them years ago, you’re going to pay a premium now.”

This is not the first time Epic Games has faced criticism over its monetization strategies. Over the past year, the company has quietly adjusted V-Bucks pricing in several regions to account for inflation, while also introducing more expensive cosmetic tiers for vehicle bodies and instruments used in Fortnite Festival. But targeting classic Halloween skins, which many players save up for all year, feels like a low blow to the game’s core fanbase.

Epic Games has yet to comment on the pricing controversy. In the past, the developer has occasionally walked back unpopular shop changes or gifted partial V-Bucks refunds when community outrage reached a boiling point. Whether they will do so this time remains to be seen.

For now, the island remains draped in twilight, filled with fog, jumpscares, and players running around dressed as 90s slasher villains. The gameplay itself is a triumph, proving that Fortnitemares is still the gold standard for in-game holiday events. But as players weigh the cost of their favorite spooky gear, the real horror might just be the checkout screen.