Epic Has Been Ordered to Pay $245M For Luring Customers Into Fortnite Purchases

Epic Games, the publisher behind the popular battle-royale game Fortnite has been ordered by the Federal Trade Commission to pay a $245 million fine over the accusation that they have lured players into making unwanted purchases in the game.

What Has Epic Games Been Accused of?

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had alleged that Epic used “dark patterns” in the games menu design which made it easy for players to make unintended purchases of in-game items and in turn alleged that Epic made it easy for children to make these unintended purchases without parental consent. The FTC also accused Epic of locking and threatening to lock the accounts of customers who had attempted to dispute the purchases.

The FTC voted 4-0 to approve the complaint which ended up with Epic getting slapped with the $245M fine which will be distributed amongst a small list of affected consumers and has provided a dedicated page on those who are eligible for a refund and will provide information on receiving the refund in the coming weeks.

Good News For Consumers

Fortnite I’ve always seen as a predatory game amongst many, having been in school at the time of its popularity I saw several instances of people dropping hundreds for cosmetics in the game. This lawsuit is 100% deserved, though $245m is hardly anything to the billions in profit the game has made each year since its release. Much more needs to be done against the predatory nature of games and the micro transactions within them, though a lot of that problem can be solved with parents actually doing their job and not just handing little Timmy an iPad and calling it a day.

What is your opinion on Fortnite and predatory micro-transactions? Let us know in the comments.