US Federal Trade Commission sends out the first wave of $72 million in refunds to Fortnite players that Epic used 'dark patterns to trick'

2 weeks ago 5

(Image credit: Epic Games)

The US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) reached agreements with Epic Games in 2022 following years of legal wrangling that will eventually see the videogame publisher pay a total of $520 million in penalties and refunds. The allegations were that Fortnite violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and used dark patterns (UI design tricks meant to fool users) to dupe players into purchases.

Epic admitted its mistakes and agreed to pay a $275 million penalty for violating the COPPA rule (the largest penalty ever levied) as well as $245 million to refund consumers affected by Fortnite's "dark patterns and billing practices" (the largest refund amount ever in a videogame matter).

Two years down the line, the FTC has started sending out that money to customers. A new announcement says it's "sending refunds totaling more than $72 million to consumers who were tricked by Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite, into making unwanted purchases."

It doesn't mince words when recapping the reason for the penalties and refunds. The latter is to settle allegations that the publisher used "dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases, let children rack up unauthorized charges without any parental involvement, and blocked some users who disputed unauthorized charges from accessing their purchased content." It goes on to say that these issues were compounded by confusing and "counterintuitive" interfaces and unclear charging practices.

This is obviously just part of the total $245 million and the FTC calls it the "first round of payments" with more to be made at a "later date." It even breaks down the $72 million, which is being sent out as 629,344 total payments, split roughly equally between PayPal payments and cheques, with the average payout being $114. Yep, turns out the government doesn't accept payment in V-Bucks.

The FTC has a dedicated email address for anyone wondering about their refund, which is amusingly enough [email protected], and customers who believe they may be eligible for a refund can submit a claim on a dedicated part of the FTC website. You have to be over 18 and either:

You were charged in-game currency for items you didn’t want between January 2017 and September 2022
Your child made charges to your credit card without your knowledge between January 2017 and November 2018
Your account was locked between January 2017 and September 2022 after you complained to your credit card company about wrongful charges

You can read more about the original settlement agreement here.

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Rich is a games journalist with 15 years' experience, beginning his career on Edge magazine before working for a wide range of outlets, including Ars Technica, Eurogamer, GamesRadar+, Gamespot, the Guardian, IGN, the New Statesman, Polygon, and Vice. He was the editor of Kotaku UK, the UK arm of Kotaku, for three years before joining PC Gamer. He is the author of a Brief History of Video Games, a full history of the medium, which the Midwest Book Review described as "[a] must-read for serious minded game historians and curious video game connoisseurs alike."

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