Fortnite has launched its Chapter 2 Season 2 (C2S2) update on PC, PS4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch, and mobile--the first new season since the big chapter changeover last year. The event was heralded by a week of teasers suggesting an espionage theme, with secret agents dropping coded messages all around the globe. Sure enough, the update is all about spycraft, with competing covert factions Ghost and Shadow. This time you can choose your allegiance to one of these factions, and receive different challenges and rewards as a result.
We also know that Deadpool will be this season's secret unlock, though it's unclear exactly when the merc with a mouth will become available.
As usual, the new season comes with a new Battle Pass to purchase for 950 V-Bucks (about $10 USD), and its requisite cosmetic rewards like a bunch of new skins. Plus, developer Epic has made plenty of small gameplay adjustments and new mechanics to mix up the meta as we head into another season. To catch you up, we've compiled everything new in C2S2 below. More content roll-outs may be coming over the next few weeks as well, so check back for updates.
Fortnite 12.0 Update Patch Notes
The patch notes for the C2S2 update are not available yet, but this section will be updated once they are. In the meantime, fans have compiled crowd-sourced unofficial patch notes with changes noticed by the community.
Fortnite 12.0 Battle Pass and New Skins
The new Battle Pass is available as always and will let you play your way to a whole new batch of skins and other cosmetic items. You can purchase it for 950 V-Bucks (roughly $10). You can check out all the new skins and other cosmetic rewards to plan your new look.
As expected, this season's skins have an espionage theme. Those include the muscular feline Meowscles, a Maya variant with a customizable style, Midas with a golden arm, and of course, a banana in a tuxedo. Deadpool from the Marvel comics and films will also be showing up at some point later in the season.
Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 Challenge Guides
To earn all of your cosmetic upgrades from the Battle Pass, you'll need to complete various challenges to earn Stars. This season packs a twist, though, thanks to the new Ghost and Shadow factions. Completing the challenges will unlock a special final mission, at which point you can choose which side to ally yourself with. That will give you access to a new faction-exclusive style, but the choice is permanent so consider carefully which one you want.
The first week begins with the Brutus's Briefing challenge. These are mostly an assortment of objectives you've seen before, like searching for chests at specific locations or throwing down shields. A few are more espionage flavored, though, like disguising yourself in a phone booth. You can check out our Fortnite Season 2 challenge guide and locations guide for more details.
Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 Map Changes
The new season was also once again accompanied by a number of map changes. Though not as earth-shattering as the Chapter 2 changeover, this gives us our first insight into how Epic will be handling map changes as seasons go forward.
This time, the map has added a handful of enemy bases: The Rig, The Agency, and Dirty Docks. Each of these house NPC henchmen to take down. Other areas of the map have been altered, most notably Eye-Land being replaced entirely with the Agency spy fortress.
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If you've wondered how Deadpool would fit into a Mission: Impossible movie, the new season of "Fortnite" is right up your alley.
Chapter 2, Season 2 of Epic Game's international megahit launched Thursday morning, introducing new items, changes to the maps, a bunch of playable spy-themed characters like Maya (the first fully customizable Fortnite skin), Meowscles (a buff cat-man) and Agent Peely (a banana in a smoking jacket). New elements of the map include Bond-inspired elements like a volcano hideout, a giant yacht and a cave with a massive shark's head. New gameplay elements, on the other hand, seem to reference other video games: The return of C4 and the ability to hide in a cardboard box are no doubt homages to espionage series "Metal Gear Solid."
And yes, the fourth-wall-breaking Marvel superhero Deadpool will be involved in some capacity, but since he only makes a brief appearance at the end of the trailer, it's impossible to say for now what that capacity will be.
Though not everyone has played "Fortnite," most people will have at least know the popular "floss" dance, which was popularized by the game. "Fortnite" is a free-to-play online battle royale game in which characters face off against 99 strangers on a mythical island full of abandoned towns, weapons and supernatural elements that change from season to season. While most of the combat involves real-world inspired weapons like assault rifles and shotguns, players can also strategically collect resources to build walls, ramps and forts to give themselves an advantage.
"Fortnite" is free to play, but character skins and other conveniences require in-game purchases with "V-Bucks," which in turn are available at Amazon and Gamestop. If you're purchasing V-Bucks for someone else, make sure you buy them for the right platform — Playstation 4 V-Bucks are not compatible with the Nintendo Switch version of the game. Agent Peely, of course, is already available in doll form (two different versions, in fact).
Fortnite was created by Epic Games, developers of the Unreal Engine, which in turn is the technological foundation of franchises like "Mortal Kombat," "Borderlands" and "Star Wars Jedi: Fallen Order."
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Joshua Sargent is an editor for Hearst Newspapers. Email him at josh.sargent@hearst.com.
Fry up some chimichangas and knock down that fourth wall, because a Deadpool skin is coming to Fortnite as part of the new Chapter 2, Season 2 update. The Merc with a Mouth is the latest Marvel character to come to the game, though he will probably not be as devastating as Thanos.Deadpool was revealed in the game's Fortnite Chapter 2 – Season 2 Battle Pass trailer, popping onto the screen in his usual goofy fashion. He's also seen bathing in a pile of V-Bucks; the Battle Pass still costs 950 V-Bucks or about $9.50. Fully leveling up the Battle Pass will earn you a total of 1,500 V-Bucks, which should more than cover the cost of Season 3's Battle Pass. A speech bubble sees Deadpool announced, "Shhh... I'm the secret Battle Pass outfit."
The latest update also added weekly challenges from Deadpool, including one to find a letter he sent to Epic Games. It's fitting with the character's self-aware persona, as he has routinely referenced when he was in a comic book or movie before. It's unclear how many challenges will need to be completed to unlock the Deadpool skin.
Deadpool is a skin rather than a special character event like with Thanos, so it's entirely cosmetic. However, it definitely makes us a little more likely to crack stupid jokes and get a little bolder in battle royale mode. As noted above, you can't unlock the skin yet, as it requires completing weekly challenges over the course of the Battle Pass, but the wait will likely come with more themed challenges that have Deadpool inserting himself further into the game. Learn more about all the new changes and additions in the Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 unofficial patch notes.
In January, Ryan Reynolds confirmed that Deadpool 3 is in the works at Marvel Studios. The previous two movies were produced before Disney acquired 20th Century Fox, which had been responsible for Deadpool and X-Men films previously.
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Now Playing: The 6 Biggest Changes To Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2
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Fortnite chapter 2's second season is finally here, and that means a new battle pass with 100 tiers worth of rewards for players to unlock. While plenty of changes arrived with the new season, the battle pass should be familiar to most Fortnite players.
This season's battle pass comes with around 100 cosmetic items, none that change gameplay at all. The items are locked behind certain tiers of the pass and everything players do in-game helps them gain experience to advance their pass to a higher tier. Alongside the in-game experience, the battle pass also has dozens of challenges, with new ones unlocking each week for players to get progress faster.
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Shadow skins Image: Epic Games
This season's skins are all secret agent themed, except maybe for the giant man-cat. But because there are two factions, it looks like just about every skin will have at least three versions, one standard, one for the Shadows, and one for the Ghosts. To unlock these, players can choose to complete challenges from either faction each week, which will unlock that faction's specific styles.
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Ghost skins Image: Epic Games
Just like previous passes the season 2 battle pass will cost 950 V-Bucks in the in-game store. There is also a version of the pass that automatically unlocks the first 25 tiers and costs 2,800 V-Bucks. The pass itself also gives players V-Bucks as unlocks at various tiers. The season 2 pass has a total of 1,500 V-Bucks that players can earn if they complete the entire pass.
For players who don't necessarily want to buy the pass, there is also a free version which offers limited rewards and only a few challenges. The free pass will still accrue experience and level up, just like the paid pass, but you won't unlock any of the paid items. If you decide to upgrade the pass in the future, you'll get every reward you've earned up to that point.
The Fortnite chapter 2 season 2 battle pass is out now, and will be available until April 29.
Your stack of V-Bucks are safe, at least from the IRS.Epic
Fortnite makes much of its money from a virtual currency, V-Bucks, which are used to purchase cosmetics such as skins, emotes and pickaxes in the billion-dollar battle royale game. All that virtual money floating around must have caught the attention of the Internal Revenue Service.
Language on the IRS website listed Fortnite V-Bucks as an example of virtual currency that needed to be reported on tax forms, according to a report from Bloomberg on Wednesday. However, that language has now been removed, and the IRS says it was a mistake.
"The IRS recognizes that the language on our page potentially caused concern for some taxpayers" the agency said in a statement Friday. "We have changed the language in order to lessen any confusion. Transacting in virtual currencies as part of a game that do not leave the game environment (virtual currencies that are not convertible) would not require a taxpayer to indicate this on their tax return."Virtual currency, according to the IRS, is "digital representation of value that functions as a medium of exchange, a unit of account, and/or a store of value." This includes cryptocurrencies such as bitcoin. While V-Bucks can be purchased and exchanged for items within Fortnite, they can't be turned into actual money.
"V-Bucks cannot be digitally traded between users, nor can they be exchanged into, US dollars, Euros, and other real or virtual currencies," Fortnite developer Epic Games said in an emailed statement Friday.
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The way that the IRS treats video game currencies could be changing in a very big way. At some point last year, the IRS website added language that listed Fortnite's V-Bucks among other examples of virtual currency, including Bitcoin, Ether, and Roblox. The IRS website asserts that "The sale or other exchange of virtual currencies, or the use of virtual currencies to pay for goods or services, or holding virtual currencies as an investment, generally has tax consequences that could result in tax liability." The IRS website still has this messaging, but all references to the Fortnite currency have been removed. The IRS released a statement, clarifying the situation:
"The IRS recognizes that the language on our page potentially caused concern for some taxpayers. We have changed the language in order to lessen any confusion. Transacting in virtual currencies as part of a game that do not leave the game environment (virtual currencies that are not convertible) would not require a taxpayer to indicate this on their tax return."
That news should come as a relief for most gamers, at least temporarily. Since there doesn't seem to be a way for individual players to make capital gains on V-Bucks (or other forms of video game currency), it seems that it truly was an honest error on the IRS' part. Still, taxpayers who made transactions that resulted in capital gains using virtual currency will have to fill out a new form on their taxes this year on their 1040 form. That doesn't necessarily mean they'll end up paying, but the government is showing an interest in virtual purchases and potential money made as a result of these transactions.
It will be interesting to see if this changes, moving forward. As games like Fortnite, Apex Legends, League of Legends, and more continue to bring in massive profits for their publishers, it seems only natural that new laws will be put into place in order to better regulate the industry. Some gamers will certainly welcome that, but it's equally understandable that others might worry about the potential impact, moving forward. As the video game industry continues to grow by great leaps, it seems inevitable that more changes will come in the very near future.
Should the government treat V-Bucks like they do other digital currencies? Are you concerned about the potential tax implications? Let us know in the comments or share your thoughts directly on Twitter at @Marcdachamp to talk all things gaming!
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(Image credit: Epic Games) Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 skins are looking fine. A new season is finally here, and it seems like secret agents of all stripes are assembling on the battle royale island. The new batch of skins are here range from suave bananas to retired Family Guy jokes.
Even better, with Season 2's faction system, you'll be able to pick which alliance you make and give your character a (sort of permanent) new look. Typically, the Shadow group makes characters adopt an all-black aesthetic, while the Ghost group goes all-white.
Let's dig in and see what's new in Season 2's locker.
New Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 skins Here's the basic new skins first. Some of these skins have different styles that dramatically change how they look. We've included those in a slideshow further down the page.
Fortnite Chapter 2 Season 2 Ghost and Shadow skin styles All those skins you see above have variants for each of season 2's secret agent alliances, Ghost and Shadow.
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