FTC sued Epic Games

[Techno]

So the FTC has filed a lawsuit against Epic Games for allegedly collecting personal data from children and for also making the purchase button for skins darker so people will accidently buy them. It's a rather confusing thing for me to read (maybe I'm just stupid). Basically Epic appears to be in trouble.

Source: https://www.ftc.gov/business-guidance/blog/2022/12/245-million-ftc-settlement-alleges-fortnite-owner-epic-games-used-digital-dark-patterns-charge

 

Edited December 19, 2022 by Techno

[runswithspatulas]

From what I get out of it, it sounds like it's just kids accounts? I haven't had any trouble at all with unauthorized charges on my acct. I don't understand what the dark pattern stuff is all about. I haven't noticed anything. Never misclicked on anything either. From what it looks like the complaint is mainly the fact that they're mad because something got misclicked on and they're not getting the money back. I don't see how they can make unauthorized charges to an acct. unless they have access to the persons credit card but that still requires authorization before charges are made isn't it? I use pay pal so IDK. Some of the items in the item shop are non refundable. If they accidentally clicked on those that's on them. Not Fortnite. They didn't hide the refund thing. It's always been in the settings section. Anyway, JMO. 🙂

[killamch89]

Not surprised really - If I remember correctly, weren't they accused of something like this a few years back? And the predatory practice of gaming companies targeting kids has been a thing in the industry over the last decade.

[Shortie]

I read about this earlier myself and I will admit, being that I am a big player of Fortnite I have never noticed anything different myself when it came to my account or buttons being any darker so it may seem that it was kid accounts that may have been targeted. If that is the case then they do deserve to be sued as that is one of the worst things you could do in a game. We can only hope that this will be what puts a stop to them every doing something like this again. Unfortunately targeting kids on video games as been a problem for a long while and it may continue for some time to come. 

[Shagger]

Whilst I don't completely understand what Epic allegedly did in relation to darkening icons to make people buy skins by accident, it all sounds (Quite literally) very shady indeed. Banning accounts for disputing these purchases and collecting data from minors is still enough to justify this lawsuit. What does really annoy me about this is that you just know that other publishers have employing the same tactics for other free-to-play games because of how lucrative and successful Fortnite has become. I have never and likely will never play the game because I don't agree with the phycological manipulation they employ (They pretty much encourage class-based bullying.), so this news makes little difference to me, but companies like Epic need to be made an example of when they do this kind of thing to discourage others copying thier predatory monetisation tactics.

Edited December 20, 2022 by Shagger

[Tonberry]

Call me cynical, but it feels like since these news broke so suddenly, with the topic already being that Epic paid the settlement, it kind of makes me think that they want to sweep the entire thing under the rug, and not really change their ways. Granted, it's an unprecedented maount of money, but who knows.
I don't play the game very often (like once a week maybe) and I only spent money on it I think once, so I don't think I've fallen victim to these patterns myself.

[The Blackangel]

While I'm not a Fortnite player myself, this needed to be done. If Epic is stealing information on children, what exactly do they plan to do with that information? Are they a front for human trafficking? Are they trying to steal a 7 year old's credit card information? There's just too many questions unanswered (as far as I can tell) and too much going on behind closed doors with them. Stealing the information on adult is one thing. Stealing the information on a child is quite another and needs to be STOPPED NOW.

[Shagger]

3 hours ago, The Blackangel said:

While I'm not a Fortnite player myself, this needed to be done. If Epic is stealing information on children, what exactly do they plan to do with that information? Are they a front for human trafficking? Are they trying to steal a 7 year old's credit card information? There's just too many questions unanswered (as far as I can tell) and too much going on behind closed doors with them. Stealing the information on adult is one thing. Stealing the information on a child is quite another and needs to be STOPPED NOW.

 

I do agree that harvesting personal information on minors is unacceptable, but I don't think the intentions were that dark. Like I've said before, I feel that Fortnite's microtransactions are phytologically manipulative, so at worst I'd say they were analysing thier players game stats compared to thier in-game social interactions and spending habits to adjust and employ that phycological manipulation to encourage spending. Don't get me wrong, that's still terrible, but it doesn't help anyone to assume that intentions are beyond extreme.

Edited December 22, 2022 by Shagger

[The Blackangel]

17 minutes ago, Shagger said:

I do agree that harvesting personal information on minors is unnacepable, I don't think the intentions were that dark. Like I've said before, I feel that Fortnite's microtransactions a phycologically manipulative, so at worst I'd say they were anylysing thier players game stats compared to thier in-game social interactions and spending habits to adjust and employ that phycoligical manipulation to encourage spending. Don't get me wrong, that's still terrible, but it doesn't help anyone to assume that intentions are beyond extreme.

True, but my mind always goes to the most extreme things in a lot of situations. It's just part of my twisted thinking I guess.

[Kane99]

And this is why you don't add your CC to any games/accounts your children use, because sadly there are still games/services that haven't learned to make it a requirement to enter CC info before a purchase. For those sites that save your CC info, Epic Games essentially had this option. So when you go in to buy vbucks, you only need to do is select your saved card and make the purchase. That's how these kids are easily able to make these purchases. 

It's why I don't list my CC number on most of my accounts, because if one account is hacked, they could have full access to my info, or the ability to purchase things as long as they have my bank address. So yeah, scary stuff here, especially if you have kids who don't know what the hell they're doing. 

[Empire]

That's a big fine, until you consider how much Epic has made from Fortnite. Iirc, in the early days of Fortnite Battle Royale they were making close to a billion... monthly. Not sure if they've kept that up though.

[Reality vs Adventure]

This is actually two settlements! Woah! They will pay $275 million for violating the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, and $245 million due to tricking people into making purchases. They had to have known what they were doing. Glad it was ended. How long was this going on for though? 

[killamch89]

On 12/21/2022 at 5:23 PM, The Blackangel said:

While I'm not a Fortnite player myself, this needed to be done. If Epic is stealing information on children, what exactly do they plan to do with that information? Are they a front for human trafficking? Are they trying to steal a 7 year old's credit card information? There's just too many questions unanswered (as far as I can tell) and too much going on behind closed doors with them. Stealing the information on adult is one thing. Stealing the information on a child is quite another and needs to be STOPPED NOW.

I think it's more to manipulate the kids into spending their parent's money because these gaming companies only care about that. Nothing else...