A representative for Epic, which released Fortnite in 2017, said the company did not have additional comments beyond a statement it made when the settlement was announced. — Photo by Vlad Gorshkov on Unsplash
Fortnite players who were charged for unwanted purchases in the game where cartoony characters battle on a virtual island are starting to receive what could be US$245mil (RM1.1bil) in refunds from Epic Games for what the federal government called manipulative online practices.
Denver Wills, a 20-year-old college student near Anniston, Alabama, who has been playing Fortnite since middle school, said a friend had received US$350 (RM1,563) and that he hoped to get a similar amount. It would help him cover the costs of building a new computer.
“Any money’s good money at this point,” said Wills, who is waiting for his check in the mail.
Fortnite’s in-game currency, V-Bucks, can be spent on cosmetics, weapons and outfits – known as skins – that enable players to make their avatars look like celebrities and fictional characters. To appear as John Wick, a player must spend about US$19 (RM85); rapper Juice WRLD, who died in 2019, is about US$14 (RM62). When it is not on sale, a bundle of Spider-Man outfits and paraphernalia costs almost U$50 (RM223).
Epic agreed in December 2022 to a US$520mil (RM2.3bil) settlement with the Federal Trade Commission that sent a strong signal that federal officials were taking a more assertive stance toward regulating the tech industry. Customers could ultimately receive US$245mil (RM1.1bil) for what the agency called Epic’s use of “dark patterns” to trick millions of players into unwanted purchases. Another US$275mil (RM1.11bil) will settle accusations that the studio violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act.
A representative for Epic, which released Fortnite in 2017, said the company did not have additional comments beyond a statement it made when the settlement was announced. In that statement, Epic said it now asked players to explicitly approve that they wanted their payment information saved.
“The old status quo for in-game commerce and privacy has changed, and many developer practices should be reconsidered,” the statement said. “We share the underlying principles of fairness, transparency and privacy that the FTC enforces.”
In a news release this week, the federal agency said the settlement “also requires the company to get positive consent before charging users and banned it from locking players out of their accounts for disputing unauthorized charges.”
PayPal payments and checks worth more than US$72mil (RM321mil) were sent out to a group of more than 629,000 Fortnite players Monday, said Juliana Gruenwald Henderson, a spokesperson for the Federal Trade Commission.
On social media this week, Fortnite players shared the size of their refunds, with examples ranging from US$20 (RM89) to US$500 (RM2,233). The average refund was about US$114 (RM509), Henderson said.
She said there were no details on when the next set of refund payments would be sent out or what the total amount would be. It depends on how many more people submit claims online before the deadline of Jan 10.
Wills said that his claims form, which he filed in September 2023, asked him how many V-Bucks he had mistakenly spent in the game. “I went through my Fortnite locker and picked out the stuff I had bought on accident,” he said.
Wills said that he continued to play Fortnite after the accusations against Epic emerged, but that he was pleased it was compensating players.
“It’s pretty obvious,” he said, “that there were probably children spending their parents’ debit cards and credit cards on skins in the game because it was so easy to do that.” – ©2024 The New York Times Company
