• by Colin Kirkland , Yesterday

In its second round of refunds, the Federal Trade Commission announced this week that it will send over $126 million to players on Epic Games’ metaverse gaming platform Fortnite who were “charged for unwanted purchases while playing the game.” 

The refunds follow Epic’s agreement from December 2022 to pay $245 million to settle the FTC’s accusations that the company used “deceptive practices to trick players into making unwanted purchases.”

At the time, the FTC pointed to the deceitful positioning of a button allowing users to preview different in-game outfits, which was located directly below the button to purchase items.

When mobile gamers pressed the purchase button by accident, the FTC alleged that Epic automatically deducted the cost from their in-game currency balance. 

“If users realize their mistake and attempt to cancel their purchase, Epic attempts to prevent them from doing so," the complaint stated, adding that Epic built in “tricks” to prevent players from cancelling purchases. 

Upon agreeing to the settlement, Epic said “no developer creates a game with the intention of ending up here,” but that it wanted to show that it was choosing to “be at the forefront of consumer protection.”

Last year marked the first round of refunds, which amounted to $72 million from 629,344 individual payments to Fortnite players. The FTC says that this next round of refunds will include 969,173 checks and PayPal payments to players who filed a valid claim, bringing the current total of payouts to almost $200 million.

In addition, the FTC has officially reopened the process for Fortnite players and their guardians to submit a new claim for compensation before July 9.