Fortnite just made the biggest change to the item shop yet

Fortnite is very much a multi-headed beast now, given it’s legions of fans and many moving parts now it also has spin-offs such as Lego Fortnite to consider. However, a recent change in the game’s most recent update may be pointing towards changing one of the few remaining aspects of the game that have more-or-less kept consistent for a very long time.

Following the most recent Fortnite patch for January 16, it seems the formerly reliable in-game countdown timer to the Item Shop refresh has disappeared, leaving only a prompt reading ‘Shop Refresh Info’. When this is pressed, the text on screen tells players The Shop refreshes every day, usually at 7pm ET (which is midnight GMT). When the item shop refreshes, currently available items may rotate and leave, and new items may be added. Check back to see what’s new.”

It’s the use of “usually” – plus the removal of the timer – that has gotten Fortnite fans guessing, as it seems to give Epic some new wiggle room to change the time they refresh the contents of the shop. This could give them the opportunity for the store to have more limited time drops, or indeed drops that expire a little quicker or later than the usual scheduled time.

While it could certainly introduce some new exciting changes, many in the community are already sceptical it could increase FOMO and feel it’s more indication of anti-consumer business practices. “Epic can now completely update the item shop at any time without warning,” bemoans SmearReddit. “Future early shop resets are going to suck.” Many go even further “Epic is killing this game” claims SomeRandomAllMight.

Of course, some think it’s a storm in a teacup, but we’ll have to wait and see if this change means the Fortnite in-game shop becomes harder to predict. In the meantime, check out our picks for the Fortnite: Best guns in Chapter 5 and our weapons tier list or our picks for the best Fortnite XP maps for power leveling (January 16, 2024).