Epic Games, the developer of the popular video game Fortnite, has been fined a combined $520 million by the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) for violating FTC rules. The payment is the largest ever required for an FTC rules violation and relates to two complaints concerning in-game microtransactions and privacy concerns.
Interestingly, the FTC had accused the company of engaging in numerous unfair practices, such as tricking players into making impulse or unwanted purchases (a.k.a. engaging in dark patterns). While the settlement resulted in an order that Epic must pay the fine and refunds to affected players, the order lacks any prohibition against the continued use of the deceptive design tricks, known as “Dark Patterns”, which the company was accused of using.
While the lack of prohibition against deceptive design tricks can be concerning, it is positive to see that regulatory agencies appear to be (finally) monitoring gaming, and government prosecutors may be alive to the industry’s intricacies.