European social media is giving us the hot leaks again, this time with Italy's PlayStation branch revealing an exclusive Fortnite PlayStation 4 bundle. While the PS4 itself will be the regular black machine, it'll include an exclusive Fortnite avatar skin and 500 V-bucks. The announcement went up on the PlayStation Italia Facebook page, and teases a July 16th launch for the bundle.

via: facebook.com/sonyplaystationitalia

“Ready for summer challenges? From July 16th comes PS4 with Fortnite, the phenomenon of the year! In The Pack also there will be the special costume Royal Bomber and 500 v-bucks!” is what PlayStation Italia's post reads via Facebook's simple translation tool. One thing not mentioned in the post is price. Dexerto, who reported the story, predicts the price will be the same as a PS4 by itself.

As for the Royal Bomber skin, that's something exclusive to this bundle. It's not the first time PlayStation has gotten an exclusive Fortnite skin, but it is the first to be tied to an expensive purchase. It's a bit of a shame, because it's a rather cool outfit to be locked behind a console purchase.

The Facebook Italia post has been making the rounds as all good leaks do, and yet it has not been taken down. It can be found here. It's more than a little baffling to see that Sony hasn't responded to the leak, especially given the unpleasant way the PlayStation brand is associated with Fortnite recently. Mircosoft and Nintendo have even made fun of Sony's refusal to allow cross-play between platforms in official commercials.

Then again, perhaps this bundle speaks to Sony's mindset when it comes to Fortnite. Why play nicely with the other consoles when you're trying to establish a certain exclusive relationship with one of the year's most popular games? A former Sony executive even said money is the reason PlaySation won't cross-play with Xbox and Switch. Even as the rest of the industry is starting to embrace cross-platform play, Sony is still clearly operating on the idea that exclusives make for a profitable brand.

via: otakukart.com

Price will determine how well this bundle does. If it does sell for the same price as a standard PS4, it will likely move a lot of units. I can definitely see it getting discounted for Black Friday, becoming the Christmas present for kids who want to get into the Fortnite craze but don't have a console. So maybe Sony is on to something. It doesn't make its refusal to allow cross-play any less arrogant, though.

NEXT: FORNITE IS COUNTING DOWN TO SOMETHING, BUT WE'RE NOT SURE WHAT