Epic must pay 491 million euros in fine for child-unfriendly Fortnite design

Epic Games will pay a settlement of 491 million euros to the American market watchdog FTC. Among other things, the company is said to have made it too easy for minors to make in-game purchases in Fortnite.

The FTC states that Epic Games has used so-called dark patterns to get underage players to spend money on microtransactions in the game. Those tactics are said to include “counter-intuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configurations” that “lead players to incur unwanted costs.” “For example, players were charged while trying to wake the game from sleep, during a loading screen, or by pressing a neighboring button when all they wanted to do was preview an item.” These tactics allegedly led to “hundreds of millions of dollars in unwanted transactions,” the FTC said.

In addition, the FTC charges Epic with the fact that until 2018 there was no verification with which, for example, the credit card holder had to give permission for each transaction. Epic is also said to be aggressive in blocking accounts when an unintended transaction is withdrawn.

The other complaint the FTC has about Fortnite is about enabling voice chat by default. This would have resulted in underage players being confronted with ‘bullying behavior, threats, intimidation, including of a sexual nature’ through the voice function while playing. Employees reportedly raised the alarm internally in 2017 about what minors were exposed to due to the default settings, but Epic would only later add a button that disables voice chat and that would also be difficult to find. Epic needs to adjust the default settings.

The amount is divided into two parts. Epic must pay a $275 million fine and $245 million in refunds to consumers affected by the game’s dark patterns.