Epic Games Reveals Pirate Shop Token Odds After Fortnite Player Backlash

Epic Games has revealed the drop rate for Fortnite's ultra-rare Pirate Shop Token after players spent over 70 hours hunting it and some reported the studio to the Federal Trade Commission.

The developer said in a November 7 post on the Fortnite Status account that Pirate Shop Access has a 1 in 137,500 chance of appearing each time a player opens a chest in a normal match.

It said those rates have remained constant since the Treasure Hunters mini-season began on November 1 and do not change throughout the day, except during scheduled Treasure Hours.

During Treasure Hours, the Pirate Shop Access rate is boosted by 1.5x, with Epic warning that future events could offer even higher multipliers.

The newly revealed rate confirms that the reward is extremely rare, but it does not guarantee a token after a certain number of chest openings, as each chest remains a separate chance.

Streamers Lead Demands for Transparency

The disclosure came after days of mounting pressure from the community, led by prominent streamers.

Streamer Jynxzi reportedly passed 75 hours of searching before posting a #ReleaseTheOdds message on November 7, tagging the official Fortnite account.

Stable Ronaldo says he is past 70 hours hunting for the token.

Neither has found it, and both had called on Epic to publish the drop rate.

"Thank you, this is what we wanted," Stable Ronaldo said after the odds were published.

Another player, @M1das_OW2, replied, "Thank you for transparency but it should not have taken a week."

Before the clarification, Epic's only public comment was a November 3 reply from the Fortnite Status account to a player asking about the token.

"This is just like any of the chests in Battle Royale, so every player has an equal opportunity to find Pirate Shop Access," it wrote, adding a warning that "buying an account or using fake tools is a scam."

That statement addressed equal access but did not provide the numerical odds players were seeking.

FTC Reports and Boycott Calls

The lack of an official figure fueled frustration and led some players to take extreme measures.

Some players tried to report Epic to the Federal Trade Commission for failing to share odds.

"Hello @FTC, Epic Games added a new 'Pirate Token' which doesn't have any public odds of getting it, which creates anti-consumer field/FOMO," one player wrote.

Another player described the game's approach as "predatory" and "a deceptive business practice making people believe that everyone has a 'FAIR' chance."

Others called for a boycott.

"All Fortnite players deserve equal treatment," one disgruntled player claimed.

"Players who barely play get the Pirate Shop Access Token on day one, while longtime players with 3000+ chests get NOTHING. I'm calling on Fortnite players if we don't get this token, let's BOYCOTT FORTNITE FOREVER."

The player also said they knew of squads that had opened more than 15,000 chests without getting various treasure items.

Leakers Claim New System Hides Odds

Part of the community's frustration stemmed from the inability of dataminers to find the odds in the game's files, a common source for such information.

Leaker Egyptian_Leaker claimed on November 6 that Epic built a new system, reportedly called "Clover", that lets it adjust the token's odds without the numbers appearing in the game files.

"Fortnite made a whole new dev system just to hide the Pirate Shop Token odds," he wrote.

Another leaker, Llamalaxy, claimed the roll happens on Epic's servers when a chest is opened, which would explain why there was no fixed percentage to find.

Epic has not confirmed either claim.

Community estimates for the odds varied wildly before the official reveal, with an unconfirmed "1 in 700,000" figure doing the rounds and some players guessing it might be around 1 in 7,000.

The Pirate Shop Token is not sold, and players do not pay per attempt to find it, so it is not a paid loot box.

Even so, players spent real time chasing it, and some turned to paid carries and AFK tools.

Redington Cybersport reported in November that a viral video promising a compass to locate the rare tokens was a hoax.

Finding the token grants two activations, each opening a 14-day window to claim eligible Item Shop cosmetics without spending V-Bucks, a huge prize in a game built around its shop.

Real-money offers, gifting, and Battle Pass rewards are excluded from the free claims.

Epic also confirmed that players cannot receive the same treasure twice, except for Gizmos.

With four weeks left in the Treasure Hunters mini-season, the advice for players remains to play in a squad, since a token found by one player is shared with everyone, and to ignore anyone selling "guaranteed" Pirate Shop access.