Epic Games has been spanked by the US Federal Trade Commission to the tune of half a billion US dollars.

A settlement was reached whereby Epic will pay a $275 million fine and $245 million in refunds to customers tricked by "illegal dark patterns".

The FTC pursued Epic over unlawfully collecting and keeping personal data about children without obtaining parental consent.

Also for employing all sorts of nasty tactics for tricking customers into making unintended purchases, allowing children to make purchases without legally mandated parental consent, and locking accounts of customers who disputed unauthorised charges with their credit card companies.

The settlement includes an administrative order forbidding Epic from repeating any of the illegal billing practices.

Good to see the FTC taking action - which they don't often do - but in our experience shady business practices are common in the world of online gaming.

[ Main Image: Fortnite. Credit: Epic Games via IMDb.com. ]

References

Federal Trade Commission (December 19, 2022). Fortnite Video Game Maker Epic Games to Pay More Than Half a Billion Dollars over FTC Allegations of Privacy Violations and Unwanted Charges. United States of America.