A pristine copy of Fortnite has simply been bought for $42,500 — which appears lots for a free-to-play sport.
To be truthful, this can be a boxed model of Fortnite — one thing that additionally grants entry to the sport’s authentic Save the World mode, which Epic Video games nonetheless requires you pay a small quantity to entry.
However there isn’t any suggestion this sealed copy of the world’s largest battle royale will ever truly be performed. Certainly, it has been bought encased in a field, and labelled with a ten A++ ranking from online game grading firm Wata — its highest potential high quality rating.
Bought by Heritage Auctions, this copy of Fortnite is an Xbox One model from the sport’s authentic 2017 print run. Solely a restricted variety of bodily copies have been ever produced, and this version dates again to when the sport’s now-ubiquitous battle royale mode was only a side-offering.
As talked about, it does embrace entry to Save the World, which is price… one thing. Epic Video games has bundled the unique Fortnite mode in quite a few methods over time, however at present sells entry as a part of a $18.49 add-on that features 1,500 V-Bucks (which might individually price $18) in addition to an unique pores and skin.
Even with this in thoughts, although, you are still paying $42,482 over the percentages.
Lately, Fortnite is a really completely different beast — a metaverse of battle royale modes, user-generated maps, plus LEGO and music choices. Oh, and it is dwelling to just about each media franchise that has ever licensed itself for a online game, in addition to real-life popstars and now even Quentin Tarantino.
Earlier right now, Tarantino followers acquired a primary glimpse on the director’s new ‘Misplaced Chapter’ of Kill Invoice, which stars an animated Uma Thurman and Fortnite’s Peely the banana, and can debut first throughout the sport. Inform that to somebody again in 2017, and I doubt they’d consider you.
In fact, video video games attracting enormous sums as collectible gadgets is nothing new — and throughout the grand scheme of issues, $42,500 pales compared to different public sale costs. Again in 2021, a factory-sealed copy of Tremendous Mario Bros. bought for a record-breaking $2 million, although there’s debate over whether or not the sale counted as an public sale within the conventional sense. Formally, Guinness World Information acknowledges a duplicate of Tremendous Mario 64 bought for $1.56 million as the best quantity efficiently bid for a online game so far. However who is aware of how a lot that replicate of Fortnite will probably be price in one other 100 years?
If you happen to’re attempting to find the very best presents this week, we’re actively rounding up the strongest Black Friday offers on video video games, tech, and extra. You’ll find all our prime picks and worth drops in our full Black Friday hub, or take a look at our related pages for PlayStation, Nintendo, and Xbox offers.
Picture credit score: Heritage Auctions/HA.com
Tom Phillips is IGN’s Information Editor. You possibly can attain Tom at tom_phillips@ign.com or discover him on Bluesky @tomphillipseg.bsky.social


