Fortnite Apologizes for Selling Seemingly Reskinned Dog Pet, Offers Refunds

Epic Games is offering full refunds for the in-game Gunner pet dog item after players claimed a similar version of the item was offered as part of a previous Battle Pass. Epic also announced the pet will be removed from the game.Earlier today, Fortnite

added a new pet dog item to the Fortnite Shop named Gunner. Players could purchase Gunner for 1,000 V-Bucks, which is about $9.99 USD. Unfortunately, Gunner bears a striking resemblance to a season six Battle Pass pet named Bonesy.

Here’s a side-by-side comparison of the two pets created by Reddit user PhantomRacer32.

Gunner comes with a printed bandana, as opposed to a plain green camo one, and wears a balaclava mask. Because of Gunner/Bonsey’s fur color the balaclava is hard to make out at quick glance.

In a statement to IGN, Epic games said, “We should not have released the Gunner Pet and apologize for doing so.”

Epic also announced that it will be issuing full refunds for anyone who purchased Gunner from the Fortnite Shop, along with an additional 200 V-bucks.

“Anyone who purchased Gunner and refunds it prior to this make-good will instead receive 200 V-bucks and an additional refund token that can be put towards any eligible items that were purchased within the past 30,” Epic Games said.

Fortnite players were surprised by Gunner’s (temporary) addition to the Fortnite Shop today considering Epic promised to never release Battle Pass items for sale later on.

“Epic games back at it again, copy and paste! GGs epic very exclusive BP items,” writes one user on the r/Fortnite subreddit. “Guys the eyes are slightly different so it’s alright yes??” writes another user.

However, there’s a strong debate online about selling Battle Pass items, from both sides of the argument. There are those who argue that selling Battle Pass items for V-bucks defeats the purpose of a Battle Pass and lessens an item’s rarity, while others argue that it’s a way for players who don’t have the time to complete a Battle Pass to still get a desired item.

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Matt Kim is a reporter for IGN. You can reach him on Twitter.