Fortnite fans outraged by ‘insane’ Sidekick pet prices

Pet-like companions are coming to Fortnite, but a price leak might make you reconsider adopting one of these creatures.

Earlier this week, Fortnite announced it would be bringing Sidekick companions into battle starting this weekend, with the first being a banana dog named Peels.

More Sidekicks will arrive in the coming weeks, including Bonesy, Spike, and Lil’ Raptor on November 7. When equipped, they’ll join you in Fortnite’s battle royale and Lego modes, and can be customized with a variety of traits and cosmetics.

They look adorable on the outside, as you might expect, but a leaker discovered that, just like real pets, they are very expensive to maintain.

How much do Fortnite sidekick pets cost?

As revealed by Fortnite leaker ShiinaBR, sidekick prices will initially range between 1,200 to 1,500 V-Bucks. The price is the same as collaboration skins with other IPs, with the latest Alien: Earth xenomorph skin costing 1,500 V-Bucks.

In real money, this means a sidekick can cost over £10 (1,000 V-Bucks costs £6.99) and around $15 in the US.

While this isn’t exactly surprising, Epic Games expects players will have to spend extra money if they want to customize Sidekick more than once.

As outlined in the announcement post, ‘You can customize the appearance of your Sidekick once after getting it. You can buy the Sidekick multiple times and give it different looks; however, each Sidekick customization you have in your Locker must be unique. Duplicate appearances are not permitted.’

This is a very rigid rule, and of course, the public is not very happy with the prices being too high. ‘1,200 V-Bucks and if we want to replace the pet we have [to] buy a new one…. OH NO,’ wrote one X user.

‘I would literally spend $15 on a virtual fish wow,’ another added, while one user replied: ‘Yeah I need an Epic cigarette because this is crazy.’

Although Sidekicks will follow you around and react to the world, they will not be visible to enemy players. This is understandable to some extent, so it doesn’t distract from the shoot, but it does raise the question of what’s the point of spending so much money on cosmetics you can’t even show off.

On the bright side, those who already own the Bonesy Back Bling will be given a free Bonesy sidekick when it releases on November 7.

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