Epic Games must pay $245 million in refunds for cheating users

The Federal Trade Commission has ordered Fortnite developer Epic Games to pay $245 million in refunds to cheated players.

This follows a decision by the FTC that Epic Games, specifically Fortnite, used confusing in-game button layouts to trick players into making unwanted purchases, as reported by GamesRadar. As a result, Epic Games must issue refunds to some Fortnite players totaling $245 million.

“Fortnite’s counter-intuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button layouts led to players incurring unwanted charges based on pressing a single button,” reads in an FTC press release, according to GamesRadar. “The company also made it easy for kids to make purchases while playing Fortnite without requiring parental consent.”

GamesRadar reports that Epic Games has blocked the accounts of players who, after making an unwanted purchase, disputed the charge.

“The order also prohibits Epic from charging consumers through the use of obscure patterns or from charging consumers without obtaining their affirmative consent.”reads the press release. “In addition, the order prohibits Epic from blocking consumers’ access to their accounts for disputing unauthorized charges.”

Epic Games will pay the $245 million to the FTC, and the FTC will then reimburse affected customers. In the same way, Epic Games has published an official statement about this situation and you can read it following this link.