Epic Games being sued over alleged deceptive practices in Fortnite Item Shop

Epic Games is facing a new lawsuit over alleged deceptive practices in the Fortnite Item Shop. According to a report by Polygon, a group of parents has filed a proposed class-action lawsuit, accusing the company of misleading children through fake sales and countdown timers. They claim these timers create a "fear of missing out" (FOMO), which pushes young players into making rushed purchases.

Here's a look at the details of the lawsuit and Epic Games' response.

Also read: Fortnite Creative accounted for 36.5% of total user playtime in 2024, $352 million paid to creators

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Epic Games faces legal battle over Fortnite Item Shop

According to the report, the lawsuit, filed in a San Francisco court on Wednesday, argues that the Fortnite Item Shop's countdown timers often expire without removing an item or changing its price. This leads players to believe they have limited time to buy something when, in reality, the item remains available for days or weeks.

Per the lawsuit, this practice violates consumer protection laws in North Carolina, California, and Texas.

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An Epic Games spokesperson has responded, telling Polygon the lawsuit is factually incorrect and does not represent the way Fortnite works at all. The company claims to have removed countdown timers, introduced hold-to-purchase mechanics and instant purchase cancellations, and strengthened parental controls for underage players.

The spokesperson emphasized:

"When a player creates an Epic account and indicates they are under 13, they are unable to make real money purchases until a parent provides consent. Once they do, we offer industry-leading parental controls including PIN protecting purchases. We will fight these claims."

This is not Epic Games' first legal challenge over Fortnite's monetization. In 2024, the Dutch government fined the company $1.2 million for allegedly using misleading countdown timers, claiming they exploited children's vulnerabilities.

The company appealed the decision and made changes, including displaying expiration dates for item shop listings.

The current plaintiffs are awaiting a judge's decision on whether it can proceed as a class-action lawsuit.

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About the author

Harshit Singh is a gaming journalist at Sportskeeda, with Fortnite, Counter-Strike 2, and Marvel Rivals being his areas of specialization. A final-year B.Des (Visual Communication) student at Delhi Technological University, he is always eager to pursue creative endeavors. Harshit aims to deliver news and up-to-date content promptly to players around the globe. To that end, he acquires information from reliable forums and social media pages and religiously tracks the latest coverage of Fortnite — a game he has been playing since 2018. He is often found testing the new meta in-game or spectating competitive tournaments.

Harshit holds a deep love for video games, which stemmed from the hours he spent playing GTA Vice City, NFS Most Wanted 2005, FlatOut 2, and Total Overdose in his school days. Currently, he is veering towards story-driven, single-player games, with Red Dead Redemption 2 being one of his favorites.

Harshit is an ardent fan of esports titles like CS, Rocket League, and Valorant, with Fnatic, EDG, G2, and Astralis being a few of his favorite orgs. Counter-Strike pro Xantares and Benjifishy, an esports athlete who has mastered both Fortnite and Valorant, are inspirational figures for him.

Harshit works as a music producer under the alias Hysaze. He is extremely passionate about EDM and has garnered over 40 million streams across all platforms. He is also a regular contributor to Fandom’s EDM Wiki.

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Edited by Rachel Syiemlieh