FTC Helps Fortnite Players Beat Epic Games: Traditional retail establishments catering to the video game industry now exist alongside virtual ones. Gear, character “skins,” and even dance movements are for sale in games like Epic Games’ Fortnite.
Visualize Darth Vader using an umbrella while flossing. But what if the game secretly stored your credit card details, didn’t let you double-check your purchases, making it tricky to undo them, and booted you from the game if you sought to dispute the charge?
The Federal Trade Commission claims that this is what happened to some parents who played Fortnite with their children. Fortnite buyers may not know that Epic Games has stored their credit card details if they’ve purchased the game.
Or you may have been aware that the FTC claims children can make purchases in games for hundreds of dollars without your knowledge or consent. The FTC also claims that millions of gamers were charged for unnecessary things since the game’s system was so difficult to use.
. @EpicGames will have to pay $520 million over "design tricks…to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases" in @Fortnite, the Federal Trade Commission [FTC] announced on December 19th. 👀💀
Read the @IGN article here: https://t.co/6dRYYkDKDh#GamingNews pic.twitter.com/lOLeqMEnDA
— KontrolFreek (@KontrolFreek) December 21, 2022
And if you tried to dispute a charge with your credit card issuer, you might have been unexpectedly and permanently locked out of Fortnite.
Epic made it difficult or impossible to cancel charges. You know, the game in which you might have just spent hundreds of dollars without your knowledge or permission. If you contested an account, you would lose access to the content you had already paid for.
FOSI Founder & CEO, @StephenBalkam, shares his remarks on recent developments within the gaming industry, resulting in action from the @FTC. Learn about his insights on this "new wave of recognition" by lawmakers and regulators in @NPR: https://t.co/CGw3a07Ih7
— Family Online Safety Institute (@FOSI) December 21, 2022
Under the terms of a settlement with the FTC, Epic must require parental consent before making any in-game purchases. Objecting to a charge won’t get you kicked out of the game. As a result of unfairly charging or locking out players’ accounts, Epic must pay $245 million in compensation.
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