The missing Fortnite skin Plague and its female counterpart Scourge are finally back in the free-to-play battle royale’s store (thanks, Eurogamer). The cosmetics’ return happened just as quietly as their initial disappearance. Epic made no announcement about them being back on the market, just as they said nothing when they pulled them from the store.
While Fortnite skins often rotate in and out of the shop, it’s rare to see any skin vanish for more than a few weeks or months. Epic typically only pulls them if they’re associated with some kind of controversy – such as the Rue skin, which was compared to a Nazi costume after it launched in 2020, and the Travis Scott skin, which disappeared after a series of fatal accidents at one of the rapper’s 2021 concerts.
Plague and Scourge were pulled at the end of January 2020, as the Covid-19 pandemic began spreading across the globe. Given the association with both outfits – plague, of course, and widespread death and devastation – it’s perhaps unsurprising that Epic removed the skins when they did.
Fortnite is currently in the middle of its fourth chapter’s first season, made in Unreal Engine 5 for the first time. If you’re keen on picking up either of these skins, you might notice a few changes to your account. Epic added a Cabined Accounts system to keep younger users safe – around the same time the FTC fined the company $520 million for allegedly deceptive practices.
Written by Josh Broadwell on behalf of GLHF
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