Epic Games Being Sued For Fortnite's Old Loot Box System

Published: March 4, 2019 1:15 PM /

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Epic Games, creators of Fortnite and current video game boogeyman, are being sued for the old loot box system used in Fornite's save the world mode. Back in July 2017 Fortnite: Save the World was released as a paid for early access title, featuring co-op gameplay in which players had to work together to survive against waves of enemies by scavenging supplies and building structures. While the free-to-play modes of Fortnite have been insanely successful, the original game mode still did rather while and despite being paid for used to include 'llama' loot boxes with randomized gear inside.

Now Epic Games have been sued by the parents of an underage gamer in California for "Predatory" practices which they say tricked them into purchasing the loot boxes. The couple's lawyer claimed that the loot boxes where purchased in the hopes of getting good loot, but that there was little to no chance of said loot being obtained and that if the company had made the odds clear the boxes would never have been purchased in the first place. These claims come in spite of the fact that Epic has never published the odds for gaining different types of loot from their 'llama' boxes.

“[The] Plaintiff, like hundreds of thousands of consumers, fell for Epic’s deceptive sales practices and purchased Epic’s Llamas hoping for rare and powerful loot,” the complaint reads. “Plaintiff did not receive that desired loot and never had a realistic chance of doing so.”
Epic ended the practice of blind-draw loot boxes earlier this year, instead opting to make the contents of each box clear from the get-go. Now when purchasing a loot box the game shows you what is in each one beforehand, meaning you can opt out of purchasing if you don't like what is inside and simply wait until a new box becomes available.

Loot boxes have found themselves under increasing scrutiny in 2019 with sites like OpenCritic flagging games which contain them and the FTC planning on running a public workshop on the topic later this year. This lawsuit is the latest blow in a constant stream of hate on games which use the practice and things don't seem to be getting better anytime soon, even for those that move away from it.

How do you feel about Loot Boxes? Do you think Epic deserve to be sued for this? What do you think about all the Fortnite lawsuit problems? Let us know what you think in the comments. 

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| Staff Writer

Will has been writing about video games professionally since 2016 and has covered everything from AAA game reviews to industry events and everything in… More about William