by The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) published this Wednesday (15) the final result of its decision that ordered Epic Games to refund Fortnite players. According to the regulatory body, the company will have to pay US$245 million to promote mechanisms that facilitated the “unsolicited” acquisition of in-game microtransactions.
The decision is part of an agreement reached between the FTC and the company to finalize the decision without further damages. The dispute became public in December 2022, when the developer was accused of “using dark patterns to deceive consumers” and allowing children to shop without parental permission.
To achieve this goal, the owner of Fortnite would have applied “a variety of design tricksThis would encourage buying items and skins by accident. Among the techniques the company would use would be the use of “one click” to confirm transactionswhich could happen when waking a platform from sleep or loading screens.
Fortnite was condemned for its inconsistencies
The FTC also claims that Battle Royale was purposely created to be “counterintuitive, inconsistent and confusing» in your button organizer. With that the playersincur unwanted charges based on the click of a button”, which the company ended up changing in more recent updates.
In addition to the $245 million agreed with the regulator, Epic Games to Pay Additional $275 Million Fine for Violating Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act. The company publicly admitted its guilt, stating that it did so out of its responsibility for “is at the forefront of consumer protection” and for its commitment to providing the best possible audience experience.
Among the consequences of the Fortnite lawsuit is the creation of limited accounts on the Epic Games Store, allowing parents and guardians to more easily manage play time and purchases made by minors. The title also underwent enough modifications to make it difficult to obtain new items and skinsa process that now involves pressing buttons for a long time.
Epic Games recommends players use cloud services to continue playing Fortnite
Source: VGC
