How to know if you are eligible for a Fortnite refund from Epic Games

Epic Games is in trouble with the Federal Trade Commission over Fortnite's in-game purchases. The FTC has stated the developer used dark practices to exploit children into making in-game purchases of V-Bucks. Epic has agreed with the punishments and is reportedly taking steps to ensure nothing like this happens again.

Part of the punishment handed down by the FTC involves a $245 million fine that will effectively be refunded to the players whose purchases are suspect. There's a good chance that a lot of gamers will see some money returned to them in the wake of this scandal.

There are stipulations that have to be met, though. Unfortunately, the refund isn't just for anyone who bought V-Bucks during the established time frame. Here's who qualifies and how to know if you are eligible for the Fortnite refund money.

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Fortnite refund money: Qualification, methods, and more

These are the categories of players who can receive the refund money, according to the FTC's own statement:

• A parent whose child made an unauthorized purchase on the Epic Games Store from January 2017 to November 2018.
• A Fortnite player who was charged V-Bucks for in-game items they didn’t want from January 2017 to September 2022.
• A Fortnite player whose account was locked after arguing over unauthorized charges from January 2017 to September 2022.

It's unclear right now how the verification process will work. It's probably not going to come down to players saying they didn't want the item they bought or that they misclicked.

As a result, it may not be a good idea for gamers to try and get a refund for each and every purchase made during the established time frame.

The FTC is going to be setting up a refund program for players. It's not active yet but is expected to be launched soon. They'll also email the Epic Games accounts that made purchases during that time frame to let them know that they might be eligible for some of the Fortnite refund money.

All of this is in the future, probably the near-future too. None of this matters right at this moment, but check back for updates in the future and to see if the refund program page, which can be found here, is active.

Many V-Bucks purchases will be refunded (Image via Epic Games)

It doesn't appear like anything worse will happen to Epic Games as a result. Despite there being a range of years in which they allegedly exploited children and caused harm to the community, the fines (one part of which is the Fortnite refund money) seems to be their only punishment.

Epic has agreed with the FTC's deliberations. They've accepted the penalties and apologized for the practices, and have claimed that they will be taking many different measures to prevent such an act from taking place once again.

A couple of the practices include an extra verification that requires holding down the button for a while before a purchase goes through, and restoring thousands of accounts that were previously banned for related issues.

Keep an eye on official channels for more information regarding this major development.