More than 500,000 Fortnite players are in line to receive a cash payment from Epic Games after the Federal Trade Commission ruled that the game maker tricked customers into making unwanted purchases.
The $245 million settlement, first announced two years ago, accused the publisher of using tactics called "dark patterns," or deceptive interface designs, to trick people into making purchases, to let children rack up charges without parental knowledge or involvement, and even blocked user accounts who disputed these unauthorized charges.
The FTC says Epic Games made counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configurations related to making purchases. For example, players could accidentally make a purchase while attempting to wake the game from sleep mode or while the game was in a loading screen by pressing a single button or by pressing an adjacent button while attempting simply to preview an item.
As a result, Epic is returning cash to affected customers who filed a claim. The first round is $72 million spread over 629,344 payments, an average of about $114 per claim. Half of these payments are PayPal payments, while half are checks.
If Fortnite's deceptive practices cost you and you haven't filed a claim yet, you still have time. Head to https://www.fortniterefund.com/file-a-claim, enter your Epic account ID and follow the steps. The person filing the claim must be over the age of 18.
You're eligible to apply for a refund if any of these apply:
You purchased in-game currency for items you didn't want between January 2017 and September 2022.
Your child made charges to your credit card without your knowledge between January 2017 and November 2018.
Epic Games locked your account between January 2017 and September 2022 after you complained to your credit card company about wrongful charges.
The potential payment amount depends on several things, including how many people file a claim. You can choose to get your refund by check or by PayPal payment. The FTC says it will send future payments sometime in 2025 after it reviews and validates submissions.