Epic Games could have a pretty nasty lawsuit on its hands and this time it’s not down to its use of Emotes.
Variety reports that Epic has been accused of employing a “predatory scheme” to sell its loot boxes to youngsters.
Fortnite‘s Loot Llamas can be purchased for IRL money and will give you some in-game goodies. Recently, the game swapped its traditional Llamas for transparent ones, meaning players could see what they were buying before they decided to part with their hard-earned cash (or their parents’ hard-earned cash).
Unfortunately, it seems to be too little too late for one Californian man and his child, who’ve reportedly filed a lawsuit claiming Epic’s lack of clarity with its loot boxes constitutes as “predatory.”
The lawsuit accuses Epic of targeting its younger players with the illusion of winning big, despite having just a small chance of actually scooping a decent prize.
“Rising to the forefront in a multi-billion-dollar video game industry, Epic has perfected a predatory scheme whereby it exploits players, including minors, by inducing them to purchase in-game loot boxes in the pursuit of the best in-game item schematics, heroes, and survivors (collectively, ‘loot’),” say the court documents.
Loot boxes are always coming under fire and are often compared to gambling. Some countries have outright banned loot boxes from being available in released games.
For gamers, a lot of the issues surrounding loot boxes come from the dreaded ‘pay-to-win’ initiatives, where item upgrades, weapons and other goods that’ll give you an edge in the game come at an extra cost. Essentially, loot boxes that offer non-cosmetic goods can skew the fairness of a game in favour of those who can afford to drop the big bucks.
Epic Games has yet to publicly respond to the allegations made in the lawsuit.
Featured Image Credit: Epic Games