The Dumb Ways to Die collaboration in Fortnite did more than drop a catchy emote and a reactive back bling into the Item Shop. For a short window, players could unlock the entire bundle for free by claiming the Dumb Ways to Die mobile game during a promotion on the Epic Games Store. That loophole has now been patched, but the way it worked is useful context for anyone tracking how Epic ties game purchases to in-game cosmetics.
What the Dumb Ways to Die bundle includes in Fortnite
Fortnite’s Dumb Ways to Die content sits in the Gaming Legends Series and is part of the Dumb Ways to Die Set. The key cosmetic is the Dumb Ways to Die emote, which uses the now-famous chorus line “So many dumb ways to die…” and is categorized as a dance emote.
In the Item Shop, the emote is normally sold for 500 V-Bucks on its own. A Dumb Ways to Die Bundle has also been available for 800 V-Bucks, which includes the emote plus a themed back bling. The back bling is reactive and offers multiple styles, including a “normal” look and a more chaotic “toon” variant that responds to damage in-game.
Outside of the Item Shop, Epic also ties these cosmetics to the mobile version of Dumb Ways to Die. On the Android and iOS Epic Games Store listings, buying the game for $4.99 is listed as another way to unlock the emote and bundle in Fortnite.
How the free Dumb Ways to Die promotion worked
The temporary free period came from Epic’s regular habit of rotating free games on the Epic Games Store, including its mobile store for Android and iOS. For a limited time, Dumb Ways to Die was listed as a free purchase on the mobile store instead of its usual $4.99 price.
The important part is how Epic connected that mobile purchase to Fortnite. The store page for Dumb Ways to Die clearly advertised that buying the game on Epic would grant the Dumb Ways to Die bundle in Fortnite to the same Epic account. When the price dropped to zero, that linkage stayed in place. As a result, claiming the game at 100 percent off still triggered the cosmetic grant in Fortnite for many players.
This worked even if the game itself was never downloaded or launched. The crucial requirement was that the game be “purchased” on the Epic Games Store under the same Epic account used in Fortnite.
Method 1: Claiming Dumb Ways to Die on a phone
On mobile, the flow was straightforward for players in supported regions.
Step 1: Sign in to the Epic Games Store on your Android or iOS device using the same Epic account that is linked to your Fortnite profile.
Step 2: Open the store and search for Dumb Ways to Die, or go directly to the game’s mobile listing on Android or iOS. If the promotion was still active in your region, the price showed as free instead of $4.99, with a “Get” button.
Step 3: Tap Get and complete the “purchase” flow. At this stage, the game was added to your Epic library as a zero-cost order.
Step 4: Launch Fortnite on any platform that uses the same Epic account. For players who got in before the fix, a reward popup appeared on startup, granting the Dumb Ways to Die emote and the associated back bling.
Several players reported that they did not need to download or open the mobile game at all. The cosmetic unlock was tied purely to the completed entitlement for the game on the account.
Method 2: Claiming the game from a PC browser without a phone
Epic’s account and store system is cross-platform, so the promotion did not strictly require a phone or tablet. Many players claimed the Android version of the game using only a desktop browser.
Step 1: On a PC or Mac, log in to the Epic Games Store website with the Epic account you use for Fortnite.
Step 2: Navigate to the Dumb Ways to Die Android store page. During the promotion window, this page showed the game as free with an option to add it to your library.
Step 3: Complete the zero-cost checkout. Some browsers displayed warnings about unsupported devices, but those did not prevent the transaction from finishing.
Step 4: Close Fortnite if it was running, then relaunch it. As with the mobile flow, the account grant triggered at startup, dropping the emote and back bling into the locker for players who claimed it before the patch.
Some users went further by using their browser’s developer tools to emulate a mobile viewport before initiating the claim. Others reported that this extra step was unnecessary once the correct Android store URL was loaded while signed in.
Why some players also received V-Bucks refunds
The free game link did more than hand out cosmetics to players who didn’t own them. For players who had already bought the Dumb Ways to Die emote or bundle with V-Bucks, claiming the game during the promotion could retroactively trigger a V-Bucks refund.
Epic’s systems treat certain cosmetic rewards that are tied to game purchases as promotional entitlements. When the system detects that an account both owns the paid Item Shop cosmetic and later receives the same item as part of a qualifying external purchase, it can automatically credit the V-Bucks spent back to the player’s wallet.
In this case, players reported that owning the emote or bundle first, then “purchasing” the free Dumb Ways to Die game on Epic, resulted in a refund of the V-Bucks previously spent on those items. This was not a separate manual refund request; the refund appeared automatically for those who fell inside the promotion window.
Regional quirks and timing issues
Not every account was able to benefit, even while the game itself still displayed as free. A few patterns emerged:
- Regional restrictions: Some Epic giveaways do not apply in every country, and a handful of regions could see the game as free but never receive the Fortnite grant.
- App vs. web browser: Multiple players pointed out that claiming the game through the Epic Games mobile app did not always trigger the cosmetic unlock, while going through an external browser and Epic’s web checkout did.
- Processing delays: A smaller group saw the game added to their library, launched Fortnite, and did not immediately get the items or the refund. For some of these accounts, Epic’s backend eventually caught up; others reported persistent issues and opened support tickets.
- Item Shop timing: The bundle’s presence in the Item Shop at the same time as the mobile promotion added confusion. Some players tried to buy from the Fortnite Item Shop instead of the Dumb Ways to Die product page on the Epic Games Store, which did not trigger the free cosmetic flow.
There was also a narrow timing factor. Reports suggest that the Item Shop rotated while the game was still showing as free on the Epic Games Store, but the internal link between the free purchase and the Fortnite bundle was already being adjusted. Players who claimed the game late in that overlap window did not always receive the cosmetics.
The promotion is now patched
The key detail for anyone arriving now: the “free cosmetics for a free game” combination has been fixed. Dumb Ways to Die can still appear as a free title in the Epic Games Store rotation, but claiming it no longer reliably grants the Fortnite emote and back bling to new accounts.
Players who successfully obtained the bundle or V-Bucks refunds while the linkage was live keep their rewards. There is no indication that Epic is removing the cosmetics from those accounts. The change is focused on stopping new free claims from automatically unlocking the Fortnite items.
For new players, the standard routes remain:
- Buy the Dumb Ways to Die emote in the Item Shop for 500 V-Bucks when it rotates back in.
- Pick up the Dumb Ways to Die Bundle for 800 V-Bucks, which includes the emote and back bling.
- Purchase the Dumb Ways to Die mobile game for $4.99 on Epic’s Android or iOS stores when the cosmetic tie-in is explicitly active.
The brief window where a free mobile game dropped a Gaming Legends Series bundle into Fortnite for no charge underlines how closely Epic’s ecosystem links its store and its live game. For a few hours, that linkage worked in players’ favor. Going forward, anyone who wants the Dumb Ways to Die cosmetics will have to use the usual paid paths instead of hoping the promotion quietly reopens.
