The FTC is planning to deliver payments to players who have been “tricked” by Epic Games into unwanted purchases in Fortnite. This is only the first round of refunds, which is worth more than $72 million. The settlement was actually announced way back in December 2002, when the FTC received an order to force Epic Games to pay $245 million to resolve these allegations.
According to the press release by the FTC, the developer has used design tactics known as dark patterns to deceive players into making purchases they normally would not. The organization also claims that Epic Games has let children purchase digital items without their parents’ knowledge and even blocked some users who disputed these unauthorized charges from using their purchased content.
The organization also criticizes Fortnite‘s “counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration,” which misleads its player base into making digital purchases with a simple press of a button. This design has led various players to buy items in the shop while they were just pressing an adjacent button or trying to wake up their game from sleep mode.
The $72 million refund is only the first round of payments, and the FTC plans to distribute the rest at a later date. According to the organization, they will send out 629,344 total payments, half of which will be PayPal payments and the other half checks. Those who receive their refund from PayPal are expected to redeem it within 30 days, while those who get checks should cash it within 90.
In addition to the $245 million charge, Epic Games has also been fined $275 million for breaking the Children’s Online Privacy Protection (COPPA) rule. According to another press release from the organization, this is “the largest penalty ever obtained for violating an FTC rule.” With the total fine being $520 million, Epic Games still needs to pay $448 million after this first round of payment.
Despite the harsh fine, it doesn’t seem like Fortnite and Epic Games are going to slow down any time soon. It’s unclear whether the company has learned anything from this punishment, and the game continues to be popular among gamers.
