Epic Games to Pay $520,000,000 to Settle FTC Complaint

Epic Games recently received an indictment from the Federal Trade Commission, which alleges that Fortnite developers illegally collected data on children under the age of 13. In addition, according to the FTC, Epic Games used tactics that are designed to trick players into making rash purchases as a result.

In connection with such offenses, Epic Games has agreed with the Federal Trade Commission to regulate the complaint by paying the necessary fines. They will pay more than $275,000,000 for violating the Illicit Data Collection Act on children under 13 years of age. The FTC reports that the fine settlement is the largest in history associated with this clause.

For violating another rule, which is about cheating players and further forcing them to make rash purchases, Fortnite developers will pay another $245,000,000. In this way, they will try to reimburse customers for the alleged use of “dark patterns”.

"This damages amount is a record for a violation of such a gaming-related law," the FTC says. “Dark patterns” are a specific design solution that deliberately forces users to make rash purchases. For example, to issue some kind of paid subscription or make a purchase of an item that he was not going to acquire.

According to the Federal Trade Commission, Epic Games periodically used this tactic in Fortnite and made the interface confusing, thanks to which they received large payouts from players for several years:

Players may be charged when attempting to wake the game while the game is on the loading screen, or when pressing a nearby button while simply trying to view an item.

Epic Games didn't stop there. They also received accusations from the FTC for allegedly charging account holders even without authorization and could block access to content already received. Customers could challenge the unauthorized charge on their credit card, but this did not help them in most cases.

The developers of Fortnite issued a press release saying that no video game creator develops games with the intention of being on the Federal Trade Commission's list of delinquents. According to Epic Games, certain decisions were made out of a desire to protect consumer rights and provide a better user experience for Fortnite players.

Thus, $245,000,000 will be used to refund the parents of US children who made random purchases. All users who may have been included in the list of such victims will need to periodically check their account on the Epic Games page.