As GTA 6 looms, Fortnite offers almost unlimited free skins for 14 days

As we enter GTA 6 territory, Fortnite's apparent answer to keeping players engaged is simple – break out the free stuff, stat. However, the shock is just how generous its latest offer is – but earning it is probably going to have a lot of players grinding for an entire month.

Fortnite's latest season, Treasure Hunters, kicked off yesterday, November 1, and as a shorter, month-long mini-season, it was always going to have its work out for it to compete for the spotlight when GTA 6 launches on November 19. Prior to its launch, I thought the plan here was its long-awaited One Piece collab, but as was highlighted shortly after the season went live, Epic Games had another trick up its sleeve.

Enter the Fortnite Pirate Shop Access tokens. Every time you open a chest this season to grab your regular loot – guns, healing items and the like – there's an extremely slim chance that you'll be greeted with a big, golden pop-up declaring, "You found Pirate Shop Access." This grants two special tokens – one for use during a window of time this year, and one in 2027 – which, when activated, allow you to claim almost everything in Fortnite's item shop for free for 14 consecutive days.

To be clear, that means you can log on for two weeks, and every single day, claim almost everything – that means skins, bundles, emotes… you name it – in the shop without spending a single V-Buck. And then, if that wasn't enough, you can return for a second two-week free period next year.

The way Fortnite's item shop works means that you won't be able to claim everything that's ever been added to the game with this, as cosmetics rotate in and out of the store each day. But, depending on how many items you already own and what's in the shop when you activate your tokens, players could genuinely net themselves hundreds, if not thousands of dollars' worth of cosmetics using this.

The only things users aren't allowed to claim for free are "real money offers" (items you can only buy with actual cash rather than V-Bucks) and Battle Pass levels; they can only grab "one free sidekick you do not already own." Owners also can't gift things to others for free, which, to be fair, makes sense since it could lead to a massive chunk of the player base clearing out the item shop for weeks on end if it was permitted.

And that part ties into the only major catch – the rarity. As you'd imagine, the Pirate Shop Access tokens are extremely hard to come by – Epic Games hasn't confirmed the actual odds, but a quick look on social media will show you players opening hundreds and thousands of chests without seeing that fateful pop-up. Given that we're only on day two of the season, we'll probably get a better idea of the stats as we go along, but it's safe to say that many are already fully committed to the grind – which, let's face it, is definitely what the devs were going for.

For anyone keen to try their luck, it seems like it might be easier to find Pirate Shop Access if you're playing with your friends. It's already been confirmed that if you're playing with others and someone else on your team opens one of the lucky chests, the reward will be granted to everyone in the squad (or duo or trio).

There are some other rare rewards this season which can be found in the same way – right now, you can also unlock a golden A$AP Rocky skin and pickaxe, a loading screen, vehicle, Jam Track, and more – but I think it's safe to say that the Pirate Shop Access is going to be the One Piece for most players this season.

Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney says new multiplayer games flop because everyone's "already formed solid human networks in Fortnite, Call of Duty, Counter-Strike, and Apex Legends."