After Fortnite experienced significant and unexpected downtime during December’s Winterfest 2021 event, players who logged in during the event period were rewarded with a free Crescent Shroom Pickaxe. The pickaxe is a rare harvesting tool and part of Madcap’s Fungus King set. While many fans were grateful for the free gift, especially Fortnite players who have been waiting for Madcap and his pickaxe to arrive in the Item Shop, others criticized Fortnite for giving the item away for free. Pickaxes like the Crescent Shroom Pickaxe usually set players back at least 800 V-Bucks, shining a light on the problem with Fortnite’s primary source of revenue: microtransactions.
Fortnite players received a notification that they had a 15th present to unwrap during Winterfest 2021, following Fortnite’s downtime on December 29. Fans attempted to go back to the Winterfest Lodge to open the new gift, but couldn't find it in-game. Unlike the other 14 presents that had to be unwrapped in the Winterfest Lodge, this one couldn’t be opened. Instead, the Crescent Shroom Pickaxe was rewarded to players on the last day of Winterfest 2021. Unlike the other 14 presents, the final gift wasn’t Christmas or Winter-themed, but instead part of the highly-anticipated Madcap’s Fungus King set.
Fortnite players who didn’t play during Winterfest 2021, won’t receive the Crescent Shroom Pickaxe for free. This is a blow to players who didn’t log in during Winterfest 2021 as they’ll have to spend V-Bucks if they want to get the item others received for free. This isn’t the first time Fortnite microtransactions have been criticized for microtransactions, particularly around microtransactions and increased video game age restrictions. With its ESRB rating of Teen, Fortnite is largely marketed toward children and teenagers so criticisms of the prevalence of microtransactions in Fortnite, despite its young target audience, are especially relevant.
Fortnite Players Get Madcap's Pickaxe As Apology, But It's Still A Problem
Some Fortnite fans who had long-awaited the Fungus King set's arrival were disappointed that the pickaxe was no longer exclusive to the Item Shop, rendering the “rare” pickaxe not very rare at all. Unlike the unwrappable presents in the Winterfest Lodge, the Crescent Shroom pickaxe wasn’t planned as a gift initially. It seems Epic Games was prompted to give players an apology gift for the downtime, and the unreleased Fungus King harvesting tool was the decided-upon gift. After Fortnite went offline for a day unexpectedly during Winterfest 2021, players called for compensation, such as free V-Bucks. While V-Bucks are guaranteed to be well-received by Fortnite players, gifting V-Bucks would further encourage players to engage in microtransactions.
Fortnite’s free pickaxe gift has been generally well-received by the Fortnite community on social media. However, Epic's idea to gift the Crescent Shroom Pickaxe to only those players who logged in during Winterfest 2021 could be perceived as unfair by the rest of Fortnite’s player base. If nothing else, it highlights how quickly and easily microtransactions in a game like Fortnite can be rendered useless. Video game microtransactions are a widespread problem and have long been criticized, especially in games marketed toward children and teenagers. Fortnite players who didn't log in during Winterfest 2021 now only have one method of getting the Crescent Shroom Pickaxe: purchasing it from Fortnite’s Item Shop.