Class action against the video game designer Fortnite can go ahead, judge Guy Cournoyer of the Court of Appeal ruled on Friday. Three Quebec parents of underage players filed this request in 2019, denouncing the addiction caused by this game.
“We are happy for the members, and we will be able to start the process of gathering evidence as early as May or June this year,” said Ms.e Jean-Philippe Caron, lawyer at Calex, responsible for the class action.
In a ruling on Friday, Judge Cournoyer denied Epic Games’ appeal request – the game’s designer Fortnite – concerning the authorization of the class action against him rendered by the Superior Court last December.
Remember that the three Quebec parents blame Fortnite and to Epic Games, which opened a major studio in Montreal in October 2018, “to create addiction to the game [comparable] to that which heroin or cocaine can create,” reads the original Superior Court decision. The symptoms of this addiction are described at length and include “migraines, back and neck pain, lack of basic hygiene, sleep disturbances as well as significant social disturbances”.
“Several players would have developed problems such as they do not eat, do not shower and do not socialize anymore,” it adds.
A two-pronged class action
Fortnite is a cooperative shooter and survival game, offered as a free download on all platforms, which allows up to 100 online players to fight in a gradually shrinking arena. It is estimated that at any time, on the planet, between 3 and 4 million players meet there. In 2021, the game earned its developer US$5.8 billion.
The class action is authorized on behalf of all natural persons domiciled in Quebec who have developed an addiction to Fortnite since 1er September 2017.
For the moment, the number of applicants is difficult to estimate, underlines Me Because we.
To this are added all the minors who have purchased the virtual currency of the game, the V-Bucks. The three parents and their lawyers are asking for damages, as well as punitive damages which will have to be established, and reimbursement of all purchases by underage players who have obtained V-Bucks.
Last December, Epic Games also pledged to pay US$520 million as part of a settlement with the Federal Trade Commission, which accused it of failing to adequately protect underage gamers from Fortniteaccording to Agence France-Presse.
With information from Karim Benessaieh, The Press