Epic Games, Maker of 'Fortnite,' To Pay $520 Million To Resolve FTC Allegations (wsj.com) 24
Epic Games has agreed to pay $520 million to resolve Federal Trade Commission allegations that the "Fortnite" videogame developer violated online privacy protections for children and tricked players into making unintended purchases. From a report: The FTC said the agreement consisted of two record-breaking settlements that resolve a pair of civil complaints it was filing against Epic. One, filed in federal court, alleged the company violated the federal Children's Online Privacy Protection Act by collecting personal information from "Fortnite" players under the age of 13 without notifying their parents or obtaining verifiable parental consent.
That lawsuit also accused the company of illegally enabling real-time voice and text chat communications for children and teens in the game by default. Further, the FTC said Epic put those users at risk by connecting them with strangers, and as a result, some were "bullied, threatened, harassed and exposed to dangerous and psychologically traumatizing issues such as suicide." Epic will pay a $275 million civil penalty for the alleged COPPA violations, the FTC said, the largest assessed in the commission's enforcement of the privacy law. Epic didn't admit or deny the FTC's allegations as part of the settlements. The commission also said the company agreed to pay $245 million in consumer refunds to resolve the second complaint, which was filed in administrative court. It is the FTC's largest settlement that bars the use of so-called dark patterns, tactics that trap customers into paying for goods and services and create obstacles to canceling. The agency alleged that Epic deployed a variety of tactics to drive unintended purchases of virtual perks such as outfits and dance moves in "Fortnite," including the use of counterintuitive, inconsistent and confusing button configurations. "These tactics led to hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges for consumers," it said.
That lawsuit also accused the company of illegally enabling real-time voice and text chat communications for children and teens in the game by default. Further, the FTC said Epic put those users at risk by connecting them with strangers, and as a result, some were "bullied, threatened, harassed and exposed to dangerous and psychologically traumatizing issues such as suicide." Epic will pay a $275 million civil penalty for the alleged COPPA violations, the FTC said, the largest assessed in the commission's enforcement of the privacy law. Epic didn't admit or deny the FTC's allegations as part of the settlements. The commission also said the company agreed to pay $245 million in consumer refunds to resolve the second complaint, which was filed in administrative court. It is the FTC's largest settlement that bars the use of so-called dark patterns, tactics that trap customers into paying for goods and services and create obstacles to canceling. The agency alleged that Epic deployed a variety of tactics to drive unintended purchases of virtual perks such as outfits and dance moves in "Fortnite," including the use of counterintuitive, inconsistent and confusing button configurations. "These tactics led to hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized charges for consumers," it said.
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Somewhat agreed, but eventually those increased fees will cause a decrease in the user base -- and that will hurt them. How else can one implement fines and penalties? It is easy to point out flaws in a system -- but hard to propose solutions that will work.
I miss just buying games (Score:3)
I miss the days where you have to buy a game to play it. I hate that my kids are constant sales targets on platforms like Robolox and in games like Fortnite, where the game is ostensibly free.
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I miss the days where you have to buy a game to play it.
I miss the says where you could walk the street without getting murdered. I hate that people are a constant target and will die any instance they step outside.
Oh except that isn't happening, just like the overwhelming majority of the 600+ video games released this year do not make you or your kids sales target.
Don't judge an industry by it's most shitty member.
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Smart phones and apps have fundamentally changed the landscape for the next generation. Most of those apps have 'in app purchases' and are otherwise free to install. Paying real-world money for cheap to produce digital items has become normalized for the current generation, and one day they will shut off the servers and you will lose those digital goods and any perceived value all at once.
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He's got a point here. I have an xbox one and all but one of the games I bought were used. I never get hit up for micro fees. Then again, I don't join online communities and play much multiplayer anymore either.
Better when your buddies just came over and you all played around one TV. Crazy shit, I know. I still have fond memories of 4 or more of us sitting around playing Mario Party or the numerous fighting games and sports game. So much fun to all be next to each other. Your sharing food, maybe pushing eac
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It's bizarre to think but for the current crop of kids Roblox and Fortnite basically are gaming. Maybe with a bit of Minecraft thrown in. And just as much as Nintendo was gaming for your average
Yeah there are exceptions. I was a Sega kid even in the 8-Bit
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https://www.everything80spodca... [everything80spodcast.com]
Its not like we are not aware of the issue. Prior to Reagan things were different. We need to regulate advertising to children once again.
Honestly, the gambling-like aspect to many Robolx games is really insidious. My son wants money to buy 'eggs' he can open, hoping that what he gets out of the egg will be worth more than he paid for it - it is straight up unregulated gambling for children. We don't let children use slot machines in casinos, why is that okay when its on th
Buying vs. free (Score:2)
Problem with buying games is how many games don't work and have bugs in them -- true even with "free" games. Support is provided by companies as a service -- not for actually supporting the game but for busying the consumer with worthless garbage so the real developer doesn't have to deal with support.
Real constraints need to be implemented on games offering online gambling in the form of rewards and prizes -- at the least the real cost of obtaining those items, as in clear postings of beside each prize of
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Can you play without a credit card and without an account? If no, it's not really a free game.
Free game is something like wordl - no payment, no advertisements (just don't use an app for it), etc. Cheapest games I've played are those I've purchased outright a long time ago and that I keep replaying over the decades. Too much new stuff doesn't like you just purchasing games, they want to constantly monetize you.
And the fox is petitioning to guard the hen house (Score:4)
Lest we forget, this is the same company which has been vehemently championing the effort to wrestle control of iOS software distribution away from Apple, on the supposed grounds that "Apple is greedy and monopolistic and not to be trusted." So why exactly should we be expected to trust Epic to distribute iOS software, over Apple?
Re: And the fox is petitioning to guard the hen ho (Score:2)
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Spent way too much (Score:3)
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The rent model was never for the consumers benefit. You aren't suppose to "get it" so much as accept it like a good consumer.
I prefer your model myself. I buy the physical media. You can always back it up to your computer and media center for overall better consumption later, but having the hard physical backup is just nice.
Even with console games, I like having the CD/DVD/Bluray whatever. Then you can typically get the game installed and play regardless of the Internet.
P.S. Though I did have to update my x
Fornite made an estimated $5.8B last year. (Score:2)
and several billion per year every year for 3 years before that. [businessofapps.com]
This is nothing. Of course they fucked children's privacy, tricked people to buying shit they didn't want, etc. Why would they not? This is basically 0 consequences.
Re:Fornite made an estimated $5.8B last year. (Score:4, Insightful)
I'm of two minds on this whole thing.
On the one hand, we know these gaming companies incorporate gambling elements into their games and that children and many adults are rather suckered into this. This is bad. Of course, when you have States such as California talking about legalizing online sports betting and gambling is being expanded, it's hard to say the State is actually trying to prevent predatory behaviors.
Slap these companies down but it's rather two-faced of our government to be checking anyone when they are just as guilty for allowing the behavior in other industries.
The other side of the coin is why are parents just handing their naive child their credit card? I mean, what? If the parent took 5 minutes to understand the gaming platform, they could easily protect themselves while also indulging the child. You can get prepaid CCs or specifically buy gift cards for fixed dollar amounts. Right at the grocery store. Sometimes in the checkstand and self checkout areas as impulse items.
So if the parent could bother to be just a little more involved they could actually just set some boundaries and use prepaid stuff only. If you know the government is not going to protect you from predatory behavior then you need to protect yourself. The tools exist. Use them people. My brother in law does this with his children and it works very well.
So really, what we have here is a hypocritical government checking a hypocritical company for taking advantage of Johnny average through their children.
Clearly their is blame to be spread.
P.S. So are parents going to individual get class action lawsuit checks out of this, since they were sort of kind of the willing victims? Seems doubtful.
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To change that we would need to stop voting for pro corporate candidates but the problem is the pro corporate candidates are really good at pushing our buttons.
FTC Opening Can of Worms of Regulation? (Score:2)
Reading through the news articles on this case, there's a lot going on here. Epic was fined for two otherwise unrelated violations, so this is essentially a twofer in terms of cases. As a result, there's an odd mix of good and bad here - and a worrying aspect in invoking COPPA.
Epic's settlement for purchasing shenanigans is, frankly, well earned. Purposely making your UI confusing and avoiding implementing a confirmation system in order to minimize purchase friction and increase accidental transactions is e
So? How is this different then any other company? (Score:2)
I was setting up my 10-year-old daughters' notebook several months ago, which came with Windows 11, and there's no way to opt out of the online account requirement! Furthermore, you can't disable key logging (ink and typing), or location serv
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Wait. So you're invoking whataboutism? You do realize that prosecution is subject to discretion, right? EPIC jumped into someone's way. That was dumb.
So EPIC got caught, got sued, and got screwed. They did something illegal. It's not unfair. Anyone who gets nailed for criminal activity should be nailed for criminal activity. They probably got attention with the accidental purchase thing, and some eager prosecutor decided to nail them to the wall.
Encourage your state AG to bring suits against the others if y
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Reliance on discretion is a terrible precedent, because there are people who are above the law, and there are people who are hammered by it, not because of the inherent quality of their actions, but rather how well they have ingratiated the local politician.