The Federal Trade Commission slammed Epic Games with $245 million in fines this week, ordering the Fortnite developer to compensate consumers who made unwitting purchases in its digital store. The settlement, first announced back in December, is now finalized.
“Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration led players to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button,” the FTC wrote in the announcement. The complaint also criticized Epic for allowing underage players to make frictionless, unauthorized purchases without sign off from their parents.
The $245 million settlement — a huge number but one that doesn’t top the regulator’s $5 billion fine against Facebook in 2019 — will go toward refunding customers. The FTC order will also require Epic to discontinue its use of “digita …
