The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has approved $126,000,000 in refunds to be sent to 969,173 Fortnite players as part of a settlement over allegations that Epic Games tricked users into making unwanted purchases.
At the same time, the agency has reopened the claims portal for eligible Fortnite players to submit refund claims, which will be examined for the third round of refunds.
This latest development marks the second phase of the settlement the FTC reached with Epic Games in December 2022, in which the company agreed to pay $520 million to settle allegations of violating children's privacy laws and using dark patterns to trick millions into making unintentional in-game purchases.
These so-called patterns included:
Displaying confusing purchase prompts
Promoting misleading offers
Allowing underage account holders to make purchases without parental consent
Charging players unintentionally by waking the game from sleep mode, during the loading screen, or while they attempted to preview an in-game items
These charges occurred without additional confirmation, and those attempting to dispute and reverse them had to go through a complex process that made it likely for them to give up prematurely.
In some cases, these users were blocked from accessing their very accounts before the payment was reversed.
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