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Fortnite maker Epic Games to pay $520M in FTC settlement

According to The Wall Street Journal, Epic Games Inc., the company that created the video game Fortnite, has consented to pay $520 million to resolve claims made by the Federal Trade Commission that it intentionally violated children’s online privacy laws and tricked users into making unintended purchases.

Epic Games
Image Source: whqr.org

The creator of the popular video game “Fortnite,” Epic Games, has agreed to pay the US government a total of $520 million to resolve claims that it deceived millions of players, which include kids and teenagers, into making unplanned purchases and that it broke a key federal law protecting the privacy of children.

In order to settle allegations that it violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) by collecting the personal information of children under the age of 13 without first obtaining their parent’s verifiable consent, Epic has agreed to pay the US government $275 million.

Read More: Journey of a gaming firm that left a bigger footprint in the gaming industry

According to the FTC, it is the biggest fine it has ever assessed for breaking a rule it has enforced. In a second, different settlement, Epic will fork out $245 million in payments to customers who the FTC claims were injured by user-interface design decisions that were misleading.

According to the FTC, this accord is the biggest administrative order in the agency’s history.

TC commissioner Christine Wilson emphasized the risks of ignoring children’s privacy concerns when it comes to online gaming. She gave three instances of actual underage users involving sexual abuse and child pornography with the intention that it would serve as “a wake-up call to skeptics who believe that invasion of privacy lead merely to targeted advertising.”

The settlement, according to FTC Chair Lina Khan, demonstrates the agency’s increased attention to privacy and so-called “dark patterns,” which are design cues meant to steer users in the direction of a company’s favored outcome.

The FTC and Epic have reached a tentative agreement that restricts Epic from charging customers without their permission or utilizing dark patterns. It also bans Epic from locking users out of their accounts in reaction to users’ refund requests with credit card providers disputing erroneous charges. The agreement will be in effect for 20 years after it is implemented.

Along with paying a fine, Epic will be prohibited from allowing text and voice communication for kids and teenagers without parental approval. Additionally, the company will be required to remove any personal data it earlier connected via Fortnite in contravention of COPPA laws unless it receives permission from parents to keep it.

On its website, Epic wrote a lengthy article describing the accusations and settlement. It noted, “No developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here. The video game industry is a place of fast-moving innovation, where player expectations are high and new ideas are paramount. Statutes written decades ago don’t specify how gaming ecosystems should operate.

The laws have not changed, but their application has evolved and long-standing industry practices are no longer enough. We accepted this agreement because we want Epic to be at the forefront of consumer protection and provide the best experience for our players.” 

Epic Games vs Apple

Fortnite Developers Epic Games Drags Apple into Court; Calls Apple a Monopoly “Walled Garden”

Apple and Epic Games attended the US court for the trial over App Store practices and regulations on Monday. Epic Games is the developer company of the famous Fortnite game, which accused Apple mainly for its high fees on App Store and Apple trying to establish its monopoly in the industry. The two companies clashed at the California federal court, and the revelations in the court have made people’s jaw drop.

Epic Games

Epic Games is a North Carolina-based video game and software developer and publisher company, best known for the development of Fornite and Unreal Engine. The company was founded by Tim Sweeney in 1991, who is also the current CEO of the company. Apart from Fortnite and Unreal Engine, Epic Games Store, Unreal series, and Gears of War series are Epic’s main products.

Why the Court Case?

Epic Games create games for both iOS and Android platforms. But recently, the company accused Apple of abuse of the power it holds over the software developers at the California federal court. According to Epic Games, Apple has an audience base of over 1 billion, and it charges up to 30% on in-app purchases and conducting App Store reviews, which is too much. Also, the company has got all the control over the apps on App Store, which gives Apple the power to deny access to apps whenever it wants.

The Epic lawyer, Katherine Forrest, stated in her first statement that Apple is trying to have its monopoly in the market and has turned into a monopoly “walled garden”, luring in developers and users to get more and more money out of them. Forrest also claimed that the tech giant currently is earning a profit of up to 78 percent from the apps. “The evidence will show unambiguously that Apple is a monopoly,” said Forrest while representing the case in the court.

Epic Games Vs Apple
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Karen Dunn is defending Apple in the case, and she refused to accept that Apple is trying to have a monopoly. Despite she claimed that Apple has no problems if Epic Games run its games on rival companies’ devices. Apple is just trying to sell a broad array of services and making ways in different fields. She also said that Apple has created a safe and open environment for the developers and the users for easy access to apps, and it not at all charging a high fee for providing privacy, reliability, and quality to the developers and its consumers.

Fortnite Brought in Over $9 Billion in 2019, Shows Documents

The court case has made the two companies public their important financial records of the past few years. These documents have given a glimpse of the gaming company Epic Games’ annual reports. According to these financial documents, Fortnite made more than $5 billion in its first year for Epic Games, and by 2019, it had brought in over $9 billion in total for the company in the two years. Though the number is quite high, Epic Games revealed that it only gained around $5.5 billion in profit from the two years.

These documents also showed a prediction for the year 2020. It revealed that the predicted revenue for 2020 was $3.6 billion, but according to CEO Tim Sweeney’s recent testimony, the company made around $5.1 billion from Fortnite alone. The documents also show that the company gained around $8 million in 2018 and $100 million in the next year through its other games.

Is Apple Being Monopolistic?

For many years, Apple has been charging developers a heavy fee for letting users download their app from the App Store. The company has banned downloading of apps from other sources to be used on Apple devices. So the developers are forced to pay the ‘fee’ so that they can access the huge Apple user base.

According to Tim Sweeney, Apple forces its unfavorable rules on the developers or they can’t have the access to the one billion iPhone users. Many other app developers are on Epic Games’ side and have criticized Apple for its monopolistic behavior. The debate in the court is on whether Apple should have the power to set all the rules and control the payment system or not.