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Epic games 550mn settlement.

 

Epic games settlement

Epic Games will pay more than $500mn in record settlements with the US Federal Trade Commission over claims that the Fortnite developer illegally collected data on children and manipulated millions of players into making unintentional purchases. Lina Khan, FTC chair, said Epic had used «privacy-invasive default settings and deceptive interfaces that tricked Fortnite users, including teenagers and children». In the UK, the online safety bill will require online platforms to take additional steps, such as verifying their users' age, to prevent children from seeing harmful content. Epic did not admit wrongdoing as part of its settlements.

«We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players,» the company said. «The old status quo for in-game commerce and privacy has changed, and many developer practices should be reconsidered,» Epic said. Epic was valued at almost $30bn in fundraising this year, led by Sony and the family investment group that owns most of Lego. It is working with Lego to develop an online world, or «metaverse», for children and has also designed Fortnite-branded toys with companies such as Hasbro.

Tim Sweeney, Epic's founder and chief executive, has been a leading critic of Apple's App Store. Alongside its settlement with the FTC, Epic made a series of changes to its payment systems, including requesting explicit consent from users to save their purchasing details and making it easier to obtain refunds. It has also recently changed how children can chat with other players in the game. The FTC's actions against Epic follow settlements with Apple and Google in 2014 over in-app purchases by children.

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Comments

  1. Zack20 December 2022 at 17:01

    It's sad to see Epic has such tactics and uses them. I think $550mn is not enough to deter them from doing this or to deter other big companies from trying it as well. It's a start but not nearly enough.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Aaron20 December 2022 at 17:19

    While I appreciate that Epic is giving away free games and also giving out larger profit shares to game developers, I can't say the same for this. A company that doesn't care about our kids is one we must fight against, or more accurately, against the handful of people that don't care.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Tim20 December 2022 at 18:32

      Epic is indeed hit or miss with some of their decisions being quite questionable to say the least. Fortnite has garnered so much support and players but we all need to remember that this game is mostly played by kids or teenagers and we need to have ways of protecting them from the bad things in gaming.

      Delete
  3. Oliver A.20 December 2022 at 18:57

    What if more countries take a closer look at Epic and their behavior? What if they end up paying $5 billion instead of 500mn? Wouldn't that make them want to avoid doing this like the plague in the future?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Patrick20 December 2022 at 19:49

      Of course! It's all about the money. The more you're losing and having the pay in damages, the more you'll be inclined to play according to the rules.

      Delete

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