In
One Piece, the titular mysterious treasure left behind by the late Pirate King
Gol D. Roger is said to be something of such unfathomable power, it
could overturn everything people know about the world itself.
Over 20 years later, we still don’t know what the One Piece actually is, but there have
certainly been more than a few treasure hunts inspired by its legendary
mystique. Rather fittingly, one of those treasures has manifested in the
midst of
Fortnite’s newest pirate-themed mini-season, and it’s
driving the internet bonkers.
On Sunday, following the end of the Fortnitemares Halloween event,
Fortnite began an interstitial mini-season to tide players over until
the next major content drop in December. This mini-season, Treasure
Hunters, is most predominantly One Piece-themed, featuring a new map
with various One Piece locales and a handful of One Piece characters in
the shop and Battle Pass.
However, in addition to that, outside of the actual announcements, a new
element has been quietly added to the game, and following its discovery
by the playerbase, a mad scramble to locate it on par with One Piece’s
own Great Age of Piracy has begun. Players have set sail from all over
in search of the Pirate Shop Token, the treasure that will make their
(cosmetic-centric) dreams come true.
The Pirate Shop Token Lets You Plunder the Item Shop for Free
The Pirate Shop Token is a new item that has begun spawning in chests on
the new map during Fortnite’s
pirate-themed
Treasure Hunters mini-season. To put it succinctly, obtaining the Pirate
Shop Token is a free pass to almost everything in the Fortnite shop.
Obtaining the Pirate Shop Token is a free pass to almost everything in the Fortnite shop.
If you happen to obtain the token, as the game will inform you after the
fact, you can activate it at any time until its expiration on December
16, 2026. When the token is activated, any item in the Fortnite shop
will become free to claim, even if you don’t have a single V-Buck to
your name. From pickaxes to outfits to gliders, it’s all fair game. Not
only that, but from the moment of activation, the Pirate Shop Token
remains in effect for two weeks, which means you can keep helping
yourself to the shop’s contents day after day until it expires. You’ll
also receive a second token that can be activated at a
currently-indeterminate point in 2027.
There are some caveats here: real money offers, gifting and passes
levels and rewards are excluded, and you can only claim one free
sidekick that you don’t already own. Beyond those few bits, though, the
rest is plunderable. We’re talking cumulative values in the hundreds of
dollars in assorted cosmetics here, and suffice to say, a lot of people
would very much like that.
Players are Going to Ridiculous Lengths to Secure the Treasure
Perhaps unsurprisingly, such a fabulous treasure isn’t going to be easy
to find. The only way to obtain the Pirate Shop Token is to find it on
the map after it randomly spawns in, for which there is no particular
indication or notification. The actual odds of this spawn occurring are
a black box secret held by Epic, though some rumors have circulated that
they’re in the ballpark of 1 in 700,000. There have also been rumors
that you’re more likely to find it if you’re lower-leveled, but these
are probably bunk.
The only tangible thing you can do to improve your odds is grouping up.
If one player in a party finds the token, everyone in the party gets it.
This has sparked a new wave of mercenaries in the Fortnite community,
with players offering their services to others to party up and
systematically sweep the island for its chests in the hopes of finding a
token.
On a less savory note, some users with alleged Pirate Shop Token access
have begun attempting to
sell their accounts on eBay, with proposed prices in the thousands, while others have attempted to
circulate cheating tools to fudge the spawn rates. Epic issued a
statement on these practices via the
Fortnite Status X, formerly Twitter page, writing, “Buying an account or using fake tools is a scam. This is
just like any of the chests in Battle Royale, so every player has an
equal opportunity to find Pirate Shop Access.” Buying and selling
Fortnite accounts is also a bannable offense, so don’t do that.
Fortnite
Release Date
2017-09-26
ESRB
T for Teen – Diverse Content: Discretion Advised, In-Game Purchases, Users Interact
Developer
Epic Games
Publisher
Epic Games
