Fortnite Players Outraged on Reddit as Epic Games Retracts Purchases

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

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.

UPDATE: In an official clarification email to TechJuice, Epic Games addressed the recent removal of purchased items from Fortnite players’ accounts on Xbox.

The controversy arose after numerous players took to Reddit and other forums to report that items they had bought were suddenly disappearing from their inventories.
The company explained via the official Fortnite Status account on X that the issue was caused by a malfunction in the Xbox refund system between December 2024 and July 2025. During this time, players who received refunds for real-money purchases on the Xbox platform incorrectly retained both their refunded V-Bucks and the items bought with them.
While Epic noted that many players used the system in good faith, some knowingly exploited the bug. These players engaged in activities such as making repeated refund requests, creating multiple accounts, and running “item shops” where they gifted items purchased with fraudulently acquired V-Bucks.
The company began processing these back-dated refunds on September 4, which led to the abrupt removal of items from player accounts. This move caused widespread frustration and confusion among the player base, as many were unaware of the underlying issue. Epic has since explained to TechJuice that it will be taking measures to distinguish between legitimate and exploitative refunds.