A Canadian court has taken up a class-action lawsuit once morest Epic Games, in which the parents of three children compared Fortnite to hard drugs. This was reported by the portal CTV News.
The lawsuit was filed back in 2019, but it was approved only in December 2022. Parents accuse Epic Games of intentionally creating a “royal battle” in a way that is addictive, like hard drugs. According to them, because of their addiction to Fortnite, children spent thousands of hours playing the game, stopped washing, eating and communicating with peers, and also donated thousands of dollars from their parents’ budget. One of the teenagers even had panic attacks “due to the pressure from the matches”, while another was diagnosed with a gambling addiction.
The lawyer representing the parents in the case once morest Epic Games said that Fortnite is a “perfectly designed game” that is hard to put down. She also believes that the authors of the “royal battle” consulted with psychologists during development in order to make the game as addictive and attractive as possible for children.
The judge considering the case partly agreed with the arguments of the guardians. She highlighted the lack of evidence to prove that Epic Games intentionally made Fortnite so addictive that it was addictive. However, according to the judge, this cannot exclude that the developers are aware of the effect of the title on children and do not warn users regarding the possible consequences.
Epic Games did not agree with the accusations and announced its intention to fight for its interests. Company representatives also recalled that Epic Games has features parental controlwhich allow you to control the activities of the child in Fortnite and other games of the company.
