Will the GildedGuy Fortnite skin be available for free?

Fortnite often gives away free cosmetics. Whether that means a free skin with a code or just free redeemable items in the Item Shop, players are often rewarded with free cosmetics. Either way, Fortnite makes money off of in-game purchases since they are a free-to-play game, but they still like to reward their players sometimes.

Fortnite recently announced some free cosmetics with Rainbow Royale, an effort to support the LGBTQIA+ community. With the announcement of the new GildedGuy skin, players are asking, will that be free as well?

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GildedGuy in Fortnite

Get ready for another round of animated shorts on the Big ScreenShort Nite 2 comes to Party Royale starting at 2 PM ET on July 23 Catch online shorts made by up-and-coming creators from around the world including the premiere of @GildedguyArt Gets Up!https://t.co/s4wqQ3aplv pic.twitter.com/NMXqa9QdzA

— Fortnite (@FortniteGame) July 20, 2021

For reference, this "Short Nite" is a small film festival in which players can join and witness a live event with other players in which short films will be played, a la a film festival, that will likely not be seen elsewhere. This will be the second time Fortnite has done this.

Image via Epic Games Store

The total time spent watching these films will be approximately 40 minutes. The show will be available for 48 hours, so players can jump in at any time and catch the show. The event is set to run from July 23rd to July 25th, and with this event comes a new skin - GildedGuy.

The GildedGuy skin set will be out on July 22nd at 8PM ET! pic.twitter.com/G2oWMGIr8b

— HYPEX (@HYPEX) July 20, 2021

The GildedGuy skin will come with a Slush Fighter Cape backbling and Stellapen Smashpack pickaxe. These items will hit the Item Shop on July 22nd (tomorrow) and will have varying costs. Since the skin looks to be an Epic rarity, it will be approximately 1,500 V-Buck. Other items will have varying prices as well, determined by their rarity. Fortnite will likely release a bundle, but that is unclear right now.

The first Short Nite. Image via Epic Games Store

GildedGuy does come with a bit of a backstory, though. He was a house painter who enjoyed the little things but also longed for a more exciting life. One day, he used a "slushy" substance on his paintbrush to draw armor and a sword for himself. Mysteriously, the paintings came to life with actual armor for him.

GildedGuy will be released on July 22nd.