Epic Games
Epic Games will pay 520 million dollars due to lawsuits to the Fortnite store
Epic Games has come to an agreement with the FTC to pay $520 million dollars total due to lawsuits made against Fortnite.
Epic Games has revealed that they’ve come to a settlement with the FTC (Federal Trade Commission) regarding the multitude of lawsuits made against Fortnite due to its in-game store. The company will pay the regulating company a total of $520 million dollars.
Epic Games takes the “easy” way forward
Through a statement on their official website, Epic Games has revealed their intention to pay a total of $520 million USD to the FTC. This number can be divided in two different concepts: $245 million are “to resolve concerns related to past designs of the Fortnite item shop and refund systems in Fortnite”, and an additional $275 million “to resolve concerns related to children’s privacy in Fortnite.”
The company also admits that since its release in 2017, Fortnite Battle Royale has had different versions of its store through which one can buy cosmetic items like characters - better known as outfits or skins-, Back Bling, Sprays, Emotes, and more. The payment has always been made in V-Bucks, a virtual currency exclusive to the game that must be purchased with real world money.
The game’s growing popularity as time goes by and its lack of protection mechanics against accidental purchases have resulted in Epic Games receiving many collective lawsuits, motivating the company to create new versions of the store in an attempt to make it clear what a user is buying, at what price, and their rights to refund their purchases.
About the issue of children’s privacy in Fortnite, Epic admitted that, while fortnite is directed at an older teen and college-aged audience they can no longer assume that children are not playing the game. This is why they’ve been regularly adding new parental control tools and account options to help parents regulate what their children do in-game.
Source | Epic Games, Fortnite Battle Royale