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In this article, Elizabeth talks about the legalities of the lawsuit against Epic Games about unethical financial practices.
Fortnite Lawsuit
Fortnite Lawsuit
By Elizabeth Dugan
By Elizabeth Dugan
Hundreds of thousands of people all over the United States have filed multiple complaints against Epic Games, a huge and well-known gaming company, that owns and operates Fortnite for unethical business practices. Fortnite is a third-person shooter game that came out on July 17, 2017, and has had a strong grip on young gamers ever since. These complaints have led to a massive lawsuit, filed in 2022.
Epic Games has been sued for unethical business practices regarding the financial information of players and their parents. According to the official complaint, Epic Games is being sued for allowing the younger players of Fortnite to go onto Epic Games' store and put in their parents' credit card information. Because of the way Epic Games has set up their default financial accounting systems, they would save and link mom’s or dad’s credit card to that account. This allowed children to buy skins or purchase Fortnite's currency, v-bucks, from Epic Games with their parent’s money without their knowledge or consent.
Picture credits to Store norske leksikon
Photo credits to Commons Legal 6 Class Action Lawsuits - Free of Charge Creative Commons Legal 6 image
Epic Games and the Federal Trade Commission have been working to resolve this issue. In Dec. of 2022, the Federal Trade Commission made a public statement that Epic Games decided to settle the issue with a payout to all the customers who fell victim to the inconsistent and predatory payment system on Fortnite. This settlement totaled well over 72 million dollars. The FTC made the first round of payments in 2023 and plaintiffs are still being repaid is they filed later in 2023 and 2024. The deadline to file a complaint has now passed and new complaints would require another lawsuit to be filed.
Epic Games and other companies alike are not always truthful or secure with their players' personal information. The Fortnite lawsuit and settlement of over 72 million dollars is a reminder to keep financial information safe, especially online.
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