Fortnite players who made unwanted purchases due to “dark patterns” are being issued refunds by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC), with the company dishing out over $72 million to those who were affected by the problem.
Players who are eligible will be informed in the coming weeks of a refund, with the average payment being in the region of $144. The refunds come to settle charges that the company “used dark patterns to trick players into making unwanted purchases,’ allowing younger players to make unauthorised charges without permission from their parents.
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A statement issued by the FTC reads as follows:
Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button,” reads a new statement from the FTC. The company also made it easy for children to make purchases while playing Fortnite without requiring any parental consent. According to the FTC’s complaint, Epic also locked the accounts of customers who disputed unauthorized charges with their credit card companies.
Initially raised in December 2022 as part of a settlement with Epic, the complaint stated that the company “deployed a variety of design tricks known as dark patterns aimed at getting consumers of all ages to make unintended in-game purchases.” Since the complaint was raised, the Fortnite developer has revealed it will bring back future Battle Passes, although licensing issues has meant that not all of them can return.
[Source – VGC]