Epic Games, the developer of the popular video game Fortnite, has announced that starting January 30, players under the age of 18 will no longer be able to access the game on iOS and Google Play. They will also not be able to spend V-Bucks, the game’s in-app currency. Fortnite tweeted, “Beginning January 30, Fortnite players using the August 2020 13.40 app build previously available on iOS, Mac, and Google Play can no longer spend V-Bucks and must be over 18 to play. We want all versions of our games to use the current suite of Epic Online Services including parental controls, purchasing defaults, and parental verification features. We are not able to update the app on these platforms given Apple and Google’s restrictions on Fortnite.”
In December last year, the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) had announced a $520 million settlement with Epic Games over allegations that the company had violated the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act (COPPA) and deployed design tricks, known as dark patterns, to dupe millions of players into making unintentional purchases. Epic will pay a $275 million penalty for violating children’s privacy law, change default privacy settings, and pay $245 million in refunds for tricking users into making unwanted charges. Fortnite has made over $9 billion during its first two years in existence.
