“Fortnite’s counter-intuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration has led players to incur unwanted charges for pressing a single button,” says the United States Federal Trade Agency (FTC). These incentivized business practices resulted in the publisher of the hit game, Epic Games, being fined $245 million.
The FTC complaint, filed in December 2022, has now been finalized, announces the US media TechCrunch. It also targets purchases made by minors when no parental control measures have been put in place by the game. The amount should be used to reimburse players who have made inadvertent purchases.
design tips
Beyond the fine, the FTC orders Epic Games, also the game’s developer, to redesign certain aspects of its game. The studio will need to put an end to its “digital design gimmicks,” seeking explicit consent before any purchase. Finally, it will no longer be possible for Epic Games to block the accounts of players who dispute the charges.
This decision comes a few months after a fine of more than 275 million dollars. This time it involved the collection of personal data from children under the age of 13. Again, it is the lack of parental consent that was pointed out.
Fortnite is a free game with internal purchases. Other titles, on payment occasions, have decided to add this type of transaction. This is particularly the case with the soccer simulation Fifa, which publisher EA Games is used to. In June 2022, he had also been pinned by UFC-Que Choisir for these practices, deemed deceptive.
Source: BFM TV
