Gunner was released this morning but has already been removed from the store.
Epic Games released a pet dog named Gunner to the Fortnite shop earlier today that players could purchase for 1000 V-bucks and then carry around with them on their backs. But now the doggo is gone, because it was a little too similar—which is to say, virtually identical—to a prior dog-in-a-backpack named Bonesy who was included in a previous Battle Pass.
As Redditor PhantomRacer32 made clear, there’s no mistaking the similarity:
A number of fans were upset because, as Eurogamer pointed out, cosmetics are supposed to be exclusive and unavailable elsewhere. Gunner and Bonesy are technically different, yes, but not meaningfully: Gunner’s bandanna has a logo on it, his fur is very slightly more yellow, and his eyes are a bit more crossed. They’re similar enough that it would be tricky to tell which is which when they’re not being compared side by side, especially since Bonesy is already available in multiple colors. The price tag was also an issue. Full battle passes go for 950 V-Bucks (about $10), less than the cost of Gunner all by himself.
Epic apologized for releasing Gunner on the Fortnite store and said that everyone who purchased the pet will be given a full refund, plus an additional 200 V-Bucks, within the next couple of days. People who refund Gunner ahead of that will get the 200 bonus V-Bucks and a replacement Refund Token “that can be put towards any eligible items that were purchased within the past 30 days.”
We should not have released the Gunner Pet and apologize for doing so. Within the next couple of days, all purchases of Gunner will be refunded for the full amount of 1000 V-bucks as well as an additional 200 V-bucks and the Pet will be removed from the Locker.
— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) August 14, 2019
And sorry, dog lovers, but you won’t have the option of keeping the woofer around: When the refunds are issued, Gunner will be automatically removed from your locker.
Andy covers the day-to-day happenings in the big, wide world of PC gaming—the stuff we call “news.” In his off hours, he wishes he had time to play the 80-hour RPGs and immersive sims he used to love so much.