Epic Games has confirmed anyone who bought D4vd Fortnite cosmetics will be entitled to a refund, after the singer was charged with the murder of a 14-year-old girl.
Fortnite has collaborated with various musicians over the years, including the likes of Ariana Grande, Travis Scott, and Sabrina Carpenter, but there’s one team-up which is proving very regrettable.
In September last year, Fortnite released its first official anthem, Locked And Loaded, in collaboration with David Anthony Burke, aka D4vd, a singer who started his career by uploading Fortnite gaming montages with his own original music to avoid copyright strikes.
Dv4d has a number of items in the game, including two music tracks in Fortnite Festival and emotes which were sold as part of D4vd’s Locker Bundle.
However, earlier this month, the 21-year-old was charged with the murder of 14-year-old Celeste Rivas Hernandez. The charges include numerous sexual acts with a minor and the mutilation of a body. Last week, D4vd pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Epic has now stated anyone who purchased D4vd content in Fortnite will receive a refund if they request it. In a post on X, in response to Fortnite leaker account Shiina who reported that items were being refunded, the official Fortnite Status account wrote: ‘We hear the concerns. We have a bunch of changes we’re rolling out over time.
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‘The first one will be available on Tuesday April 28, when anyone who purchased one of these items will be able to get an immediate self-service refund. And, right now, players who request refunds for D4vd cosmetics via player support can be refunded.’
This means Epic isn’t outright removing the music tracks or cosmetics from the game, so if you’ve purchased them already, you’ll still have access to them. It’s unclear, though, if this could happen in the future, as part of the changes which are coming ‘over time’.
The removal of items in D4vd’s Locker Bundle might prove tricky as it was mainly made up of premium items which were already available in the game. Instead, the items were simply selected by D4vd to be discounted for a limited time.
There have been orevious cases where Epic has removed Fortnite emotes. In September last year, Fortnite pulled a Peacemaker ‘Peaceful Hips’ emote seemingly because of a plot twist in the TV show involving Nazis.
In comparison, the developer’s response to D4vd’s situation feels somewhat delayed, as the singer has been under police investigation since September.
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