The Dutch Authority for Consumers & Markets (ACM) has fined Epic Games over $1.2 million after finding that Fortnite’s microtransactions “exploited the vulnerabilities of children”. This has prompted the publisher to make changes to the game’s shop.
Epic Games certainly isn’t the first publisher to receive a fine related to the exploitation of children. This will however be the second time that the company has been penalized for a similar issue.
A ruling in December 2022 saw the Fair Trade Commission issue a $275 million fine for violating children’s privacy. That incident also prompted Epic to refund $245 million to their customers.
Now, the ACM of the Netherlands has issued multiple fines totaling just over $1.2 million USD for exploitative practices. In response, Epic has announced impending changes to the Fortnite Item Shop to avoid further sanction.
ACM fines Epic Games for ‘exploiting children’
The ACM issued a press release outlining the reasons for fining Epic Games over “unfair commercial practices aimed at children in Fortnite”. The article criticized a perceived use of FOMO tactics to pressure children into purchases.
Singling out language like “Get it now” and “Buy now” to accuse Epic Games of including “ads that directly exhort children to make purchases”. The statement also directly mentioned the Fortnite Item Shop’s countdown timers attached to “items that were still available even after the timer had reached zero”.
“Through various design choices for its offerings in its Item Shop, Epic exploited the vulnerabilities of children,” the release concluded. “This is in violation of the requirements of professional diligence.”
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The ACM has given Epic until June 10, 2024, to alter the Fortnite Item Shop so that the company may avoid further financial penalties.
Epic Games responds to $1.2 million fine with changes to Fortnite Item Shop
In its own statement responding to the ACM release, Epic Games announced planned changes but contested the decision. “The findings in the Netherlands Authority for Consumers and Markets (ACM) decision contain significant factual errors about how Fortnite and the Item Shop operate,” Epic’s statement opened.
The company outlined recently revealed changes to the Fortnite Item Shop that seem to have been prompted by this legal dispute. Those include:
- Removing the Item Shop timer to instead display the player’s local time when the Item Shop will refresh and items may leave the Shop.
- Removing tiers and colors of cosmetics in the Item Shop.
- Adding the date that an item will rotate out of the shop to the Item Description on May 24, 2024.
“While our appeal is pending, players in the Netherlands that are under the age of 18 will not be able to see or purchase items that are in the shop for less than 48 hours, beginning May 24, 2024,” the publisher added.
These changes appear to meet the standards of the ACM as it noted in its release. “ACM is of the opinion that Epic will comply with the binding instruction if it implements the above changes,” the organization allowed.
