Although Fortnite is one of the most successful Battle Royale in the world, much of its players base is made up of minors, who are extremely susceptible to spending money on this free-to-play.
In this regard, the United States Commerce Federation, or FTC) has sanctioned Epic Games for manipulating children to spend money.
According to the FTC, Epic Games will have to pay two fines for violating the protection regulations of minors and using dark patterns in Fortnite.
The first of these is $275 million, this as a consequence of violating the COPPA standard.
This was what was commented on.
The FTC alleges that these default settings, together with Epic’s role in mixing children and adolescents with strangers to play Fortnite together, harmed children and adolescents.
Children and adolescents have been intimidated, threatened, harassed and exposed to dangerous and psychologically traumatic problems, such as suicide, while they were in Fortnite.
This does not end here, since the regulator will require that default privacy configurations for children and adolescents in Fortnite be changed.
It will have to be the adult to supervise the child’s account, and the one who has to change the base configuration.
For its part, the second fine is $245 million for the use of dark patterns and billing practices, a manipulation form known as Dark Patterns.
The FTC said that, for years, Epic Games has implemented a variety of dark patterns aimed at manipulating consumers of all ages to make unwanted purchases in the game.
This was what was commented:
The players were charged when trying to activate the game from the suspension mode, while the game was on a load screen, or by pressing an adjacent button while simply trying to obtain a preview of an element.
These tactics generated hundreds of millions of dollars in unauthorized positions for consumers.
In total, Epic Games will have to pay more than $500 million in fines.
Although the company’s response is unknown at the moment, they do not have a great livelihood to oppose.
In related issues, demand ensures that Fortnite is as addictive as drugs.
Similarly, the rumor of a collaboration with the father of the family grows.