“Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button. If you were one of those parents, you know exactly how tough that was - the FTC notes that the company “charged parents and gamers of all ages,” and then made it super challenging to get those refunds, locking “the accounts of customers who disputed wrongful charges with their credit card companies.” The FTC alleged the cancel or refund buttons were hard to find, and underage users were able to make purchases without parental consent.Īnd it wasn’t just irresponsible kids not understanding what money is - though that certainly played a part. In this case, kids were reportedly directed to make in-app purchases, which were then challenging to reverse. In this case, those “dark patterns” were “V-Bucks.” Though the game is free, users can spend real dollars to purchase the in-game currency to upgrade their characters or buy “battle passes,” which unlock more skins and collectibles for players. The FTC levied a $275 million fine against Epic Games for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, a law that protects children’s privacy on the internet - Epic Games was accused of not getting parent’s consent before collecting data about their minor users and for not deleting data of its minor users.Įpic Games also, for every parent that found a mysterious charge on their credit card billed to the company, agreed to pay out $245 million to those who had allegedly fallen prey to the “dark patterns” on their gaming platforms - AKA “something that is deliberately added to a game to cause an unwanted negative experience for the player with a positive outcome for the game developer,” per a Dark Patterns website. Here’s everything you need to know about the payments, when you’ll get them, and if you qualify. “We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.” “No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here,” Epic representatives said in a 2022 statement on the company’s website about the settlement. Well, now Epic Games has finally announced it’s ready to start giving out refunds to parents (and customers of all ages, though we all know who plays Fortnite) who were stuck in this quagmire. you didn’t buy anything! And the game is free, right? And your kid promised they didn’t purchase anything, or you realize that they did and they knew what they were doing, but they didn’t have to ask you to do it in the first place.Īnd then you struggled to get the charges refunded by the company. Perhaps this was you, opening up your bank statement after seeing an oddly high credit card balance and, in a moment of shock, found yourself on the hook for hundreds of dollars of purchases made to Fortnite.īut. In December of 2022, Fatherly reported that Epic Games - the studio that created the video games every parent loves to hate, Fortnite and Fall Guys - agreed to pay hundreds of millions of dollars to the FTC for allegedly violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, and to customers (or more likely, parents of customers) who were reportedly deceived into making in-app purchases that the FTC (and a million parents) claimed were nearly impossible to get refunded.
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