The first round of refund payments have arrived in the hands of Fortnite players who the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) says “were tricked by Epic Games, maker of the popular video game Fortnite, into making unwanted purchases.” Payments have been sent to folks who filed a claim before the original February 2024 deadline–but don’t worry, there’s still more time to get in on this settlement if you missed out previously.
At issue, according to the FTC, was “Fortnite’s counterintuitive, inconsistent, and confusing button configuration [which] led players of all ages to incur unwanted charges based on the press of a single button.” This refers to how the item shop used to allow players to make a purchase with a single, instant button push, and there was only a very brief window within which it was possible to cancel the purchase. The additions of the “hold-to-purchase” interaction in the shop, as well as the 24-hour window to cancel a purchase, were the result of this and similar suits in Europe.
As part of the claims process, users could choose to be paid via check or PayPal. Those who chose PayPal and have an approved claim–which the FTC said makes up about half of the 629,344 payments in this round–should have received the money in their accounts on Monday. Those who opted for a check will receive it later.
This round of payments totaled about $72 million, which means users received a little over $100 on average, though the totals varied based on how much each person had spent during the window of time that this settlement applied to, with players receiving $250-300 on the high end.
For those who haven’t filed a claim but want to get in on these refunds, it’s still possible to do so–this first round of payments is only a third of the total Epic is supposed to pay, and the FTC is still taking claims on its website here. Just keep in mind this is only for folks who played Fortnite prior to September 2022, so newer players need not apply.