The American video game publisher Epic Games will pay 520 million dollars as part of an agreement with the United States Consumer Protection Agency (FTC), which accused it of not having sufficiently protected underage gamers from its featured game, Fortnite, according to a statement on Monday.
Part of the sum, or $ 275 million, relates to grievances relating to the collection of data relating to underage players as well as their exposure to adults. The rest, or 245 million, relates to purchases made in the game by underage players, who were not aware of making a payment.
The rest, or 245 million, relates to purchases made in the game by underage players, who were not aware of making a payment. This sum will be returned to the players.
“We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players,” commented the publisher, in a press release.
The company from Cary (North Carolina) also indicated that it had made, in recent years, “changes to (ensure) that our ecosystem is in line with what our players and regulators expect”.
The FTC had brought two separate actions against Epic Games, the first, in a federal civil court in North Carolina, accusing the publisher of not having informed the parents of underage players that it was collecting personal data on their children.
The agency also denounced the fact that the communication interface, voice or in writing, between players was activated by default for all Fortnite users.
As a result, adults could freely come into contact with children via the platform. “Through Fortnite, children have been threatened and harassed, including sexually,” argued the FTC in the document submitted to a federal judge.
The second action concerned the fact that the methods of purchasing virtual objects in the game had been so simplified that young players might not realize that they were making purchases.
The FTC had notably collected testimonials from parents explaining that they had discovered that their children had spent tens or even hundreds of dollars without their knowledge playing Fortnite.
Since then, Epic Games has notably added an additional level of validation for a purchase and introduced a spending limit on the platform for players under 13 years old.