Epic Games might owe you money from ‘Fortnite’: Here’s how to check
If you or your children played Fortnite over a nearly six-year period beginning in 2017, Epic Games may now owe you money. That’s because the maker of one of the world’s most popular video games has agreed to settle with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) over allegations that Epic “used dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases and let children rack up unauthorized charges without any parental involvement,” according to a notice from the regulatory body.
“Dark patterns”—or deceptive design—are design elements of a user interface or webpage that trick or manipulate users into carrying out an action unknowingly to them, or an action they feel like they have no choice but to take due to the way information is presented to them.
As it relates to the FTC’s allegation about Epic, the commission says “Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button. The company also made it easy for children to make purchases while playing Fortnite without requiring any parental consent.” Even worse, the FTC alleges that Epic locked the accounts of gamers who disputed the unauthorized changes with their credit card companies.
As a result, the FTC has fined Epic Games $245 million, which will be used to pay back customers who were financially impacted by the practices. The FTC has also prohibited Epic from using deceptive design to charge customers without obtaining an affirmative consent from them first.
You can read the FTC’s full order here. But the regulatory body has also set up a page on its website, FTC.gov/Fortnite, where users can go to see if they are eligible for compensation. The FTC says refunds will be available to:
- The parents of children who made unauthorized purchases on the Epic Games Store between January 2017 and November 2018.
- Fortnite players who were charged V-Bucks (the game’s in-game digital currency) for unwanted in-game items between January 2017 and September 2022.
- Those Fortnite players who had their accounts locked between January 2017 and September 2022 after they disputed unauthorized charges with their credit card companies.
If you think you are owed a refund, the FTC says right now you don’t need to do anything. It is currently working out the refund program and will update the FTC.gov/Fortnite site with more information in due course. Until then, the FTC says you can register your email address to get email updates about the refund process. That link is on the FTC’s Fortnite page.
Update: In December, when Epic Games reached an agreement with the FTC, the company issued a statement in which it said:
No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here. The video game industry is a place of fast-moving innovation, where player expectations are high and new ideas are paramount. Statutes written decades ago don’t specify how gaming ecosystems should operate. The laws have not changed, but their application has evolved and long-standing industry practices are no longer enough. We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.
Epic Games
You can read Epic’s full statement on the matter here.
(25)
