Epic Games agreed to pay $245m (£198m) in refunds to U.S. parents whose children made Fortnite purchases without their consent can now request a refund from today. Adult gamers can also potentially claim a refund.
The refund announcement came after the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) claimed the game misled players, mainly minors, into making accidental purchases while also violating privacy, which resulted in a settlement of $520m with Epic Games.
The FTC has now begun alerting 37 million people that compensation is now available for in-game purchases like outfits, loot boxes, and Fortnite’s virtual currency V-Bucks, all of which will be coming out of the $275m fine, according to the Financial Review.
The fine relates to how Fortnite gathers data on users, even minors under 13, without informing parents, and it is the largest FTC fine ever levied around this issue.
The remainder of the settlement will be paid out as refunds, and with Fortnite holding one of the top spots of most played video games globally, the refund can affect a significant percentage of its more than 400 million players.
Initially, the game is free-to-play but gets revenue through players making in-game purchases, which the FTC asserted Epic Games tricked players with “deceptive interfaces”.
The interfaces in question could prompt purchases while the game is loaded, which minors then accepted without parents’ consent.
Additionally, the FTC said the game has faulty default settings that violate privacy.
In the United Kingdom (UK), Epic Games’ vice president of marketing, Matthew Weissinger, agreed to refund parents in the UK whose kids made purchases without them knowing, but refunds have yet to be confirmed.
Claims can be submitted as early as 2024, but the claims must be under specific periods.
U.S. players of any age who made unwanted purchases between January 2017 and September 2022 and parents whose children made purchase(s) with their credit card without consent between January 2017 and November 2018.
Another layer of compensation can be claimed for Fortnite players who say their account was inaccessible after complaining about unfair charges with their credit card company.
Since the settlement, Epic Games said several changes were made to Fornite to address the unintended in-game purchases like several parental controls, a spending limit for players 13 and under, and default high privacy settings for minors.
“The laws have not changed, but their application has evolved and long-standing industry practices are no longer enough,” Epic Game said.
“We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.”
Epic Games announced the FTC is managing the allocation of compensation, and involved players must contact the regulator directly via its website to make a claim.
