Fortnite developers pay record fines and refund players
Game publisher Epic Games has settled a dispute with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to pay $520 million / £428.4 million / AU$778 million in fines and restitution after the breach Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA).
Epic Games, creator of online battle royale fortress, will have to pay a cash fine of $275 million / £225.8 million / AU$411.9 million for breach of COPPA practices and another $245 million/ £201.3 million / AU$366.9 million will be allocated as cashback. This is “the largest penalty ever achieved for violating FTC rules,” the US watchdog said in its report. official statement (opens in a new tab). In addition to the fines, the FTC said Epic Games needs to “apply strong privacy default settings for children and adolescents, ensuring that voice and text communications are turned off by default.” .”
“We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to take the lead in protecting consumers and providing the best experience for our players,” Epic said in a statement. statement (opens in a new tab). “Over the past few years, we have made changes to ensure our ecosystem meets the expectations of players and regulators, which we hope will serve as a useful guide for others in our industry.”
Epic has signed an agreement with the FTC that addresses their concerns about Fortnite item store features, refunds, and parental rights. Here’s a breakdown of how we’ve been developing Fortnite since 2017, as well as thoughts all game developers should consider.https://t.co/mb4w3NHas3December 19, 2022
Good print
The lump sum will be collected by the FTC from Epic Games to resolve the dispute through the US Department of Justice. It serves as compensation for two separate code violations: one related to a privacy breach, and the other related to the “illegal dark patterns” of the business model itself. business of Epic Games.
The FTC’s complaint against Epic’s “dark model” is threefold; first, it uses the aforementioned business models and models to “trick users into making purchases”, second, it “charges account holders without permission” and third, it retains content that has already been purchased. pre-purchase and refuse to refund.
Epic Games violated COPPA by withholding user information without parental consent, and the FTC said Fortnite’s default privacy settings put children and teenagers at risk.
“Epic used privacy-intrusive default settings and a deceptive interface to trick Fortnite users,” FTC President Lina M. Khan said in the committee’s statement.
According to the FTC, these patterns include how “players may be charged when attempting to wake a game from sleep, when the game is on the loading screen, or by pressing an adjacent button while simply attempting to preview an item.”
Until 2018, in-game purchases could be made without confirmation from the account holder. “Epic allows children to purchase V-Bucks by simply pressing buttons without requiring any action or consent from a parent or cardholder,” the FTC said, with parents complaining that their children made these purchases and paid huge bills without their consent.
In addition to these instances of unapproved purchases, the FTC said that “Epic has locked the accounts of customers who disputed unauthorized charges with their credit card companies.” This will effectively prevent users from accessing content they have purchased, monitored or not, which could amount to thousands of dollars being lost and users whose accounts were restored by Epic allegedly received warnings. informed that their account will be permanently lost if they make any further attempts at refunding the purchase
“This proposed order sends a message to all online providers that the collection of children’s personal information without parental consent will not be tolerated,” said Deputy Attorney General. Vanita Gupta said the FTC statement.
Epic Games replied
Epic said in its statement that saving payment details is a “popular way to streamline the payment process,” but it has “agreed with the FTC to change this method and [it] now offer[s] an explicit yes or no option to save payment information.”
Regarding allegations that accounts were banned for reversing unauthorized payments, Epic Games has “updated” [its] chargeback policy to take into account non-fraud related cases and will only disable accounts when there are signs of fraud.”
Regarding the potential danger to children, Epic Games reaffirmed that “Fortnite is rated for Teenagers and is aimed at older teens and college students.” It also mentions the recent introduction of Cabin Accounts, described as “a new type of Epic account that provides a tailored, secure, and inclusive experience for younger players.” This will provide space for players 13 and younger to play Fortnite “in a suitable environment where certain features, such as chat and purchases, are disabled” until the account is released. their accounts receive parental consent.
Epic concluded its statement by saying that it shares the same values as the FTC of child protection and transparency of in-game purchases. “We share the fundamental principles of fairness, transparency, and privacy that the FTC enforces, and the practices referenced in the FTC complaints are not how Fortnite operates.”