The first anniversary of the Astronomical event came and went, and yet, fans were left high and dry as the Travis Scott skin was not added back to Fortnite's in-game store. The best guess is that it was too soon to unvault the cosmetic, as only a year had gone by, and most cosmetics are unvaulted after well over a year.
However, it seems as though the developers even forgot to unvault the Star Wars cosmetics to celebrate "May the 4th be with you," which left many fans heartbroken and disappointed.
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Given the data that was recently revealed during the Epic vs Apple lawsuit, despite Star Wars being right behind Marvel in terms of revenue from collaborations, it was strange not to see cosmetics related to this pop culture phenomenon added to the in-game store to celebrate Star Wars day.
Also read: Will Travis Scott Skin return to the Fortnite item shop in Season 6?
So the real question here is: why is Fortnite holding these skins back? Throughout Season 6, many "OG" cosmetics have been unvaulted, such as the Empress back bling, the Zanny emote, and even the Munitions Expert skin. If the developers are bringing back so many old cosmetics, why not unvault stuff like Travis Scott or Star Wars?
Despite fans having requested the developers to unvault a few cosmetics, it would seem as if those requests will be met with deaf ears. However, it's not about creating artificial demand as many would expect.
Rather, it could be related more closely to the roadmap for Season 6 and beyond, which has already been set in motion.
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Why is Fortnite holding these skins back?
While providing a straight answer will prove rather difficult as there are potentially dozens of reasons, two reasons why these skins were held back come to the forefront and provide a logical explanation.
#1 - Conflict of interest
Given that there is already a full-fledged collaboration between DC and Fortnite, adding back Star Wars cosmetics could cause a conflict of interest.
Backing this up is the fact that Fortnite added a lot of Batman cosmetics to the in-game item shop a while ago, which may have clashed with the Star Wars celebration
Although fans were upset about not having a Star Wars day celebration, it's probably good to remember that the DC collaboration was teased at the start of Season 6. This means that a roadmap had already been chalked out, and further collaborations would cause a massive conflict of interest and dilute sales between Batman and Star Wars-related cosmetics.
#2 - Too many stars dull the night sky
Despite Travis Scott being a pop-culture sensation, even to Fortnite fans following last year's digital concert, Neymar Jr. is a pretty big deal in the world of soccer. Given that cosmetics related to him were part of the Battle Pass, it's possible that the developers didn't want to unvault iconic skins such as Travis Scott's.
Perhaps in the future (possibly next year), loopers may get the chance to purchase Star Wars and Astronomical cosmetics. However, for the time being, it would seem as if the item shop will not be getting any surprise updates anytime soon.
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