Epic Games will resolve Fortnite Loot Box lawsuits on V-Bucks

Epic Games will give Fifteen days 1,000 V-Bucks players if they ever bought a box of in-game loot, presented within the game as “loot llamas” containing random items, as part of a proposed class action agreement to be approved later this week.

While Fifteen daysThe massively popular Battle Royale mode never contained random loot boxes, the game’s cooperative survival mode, “Save the World”, did – at least until 2019 when Epic changed its cash box system to allow players to see the item inside before purchase.

Now, anyone who purchased a random withdrawal box before it was discontinued will have 1,000 V-Bucks (about $ 8) automatically deposited into their accounts in the next two to three days. The decision is part of a broader move by Epic to resolve the lawsuits it has faced in recent years.

In this case, the developer on Monday received confirmation from a judge of the preliminary approval of his class action settlement at the North Carolina Superior Court, which is why Epic says it will begin distributing the rewards today. The change is unusual, as collective action agreements typically require claimants to make claims to receive benefits. But Epic says it is distributing benefits early because it feels that its current position in the loot boxes is right and that its players owe something for having bought random boxes in the past.

“On the one hand, it is the right thing to do and we strongly believe in boxes of random items. And two, we feel good about the deal, ”said Jeffrey Jacobson, a partner at the law firm Faegre Drinker who represents Epic. The Verge in an interview. “We hope our players will agree with us.” A final approval hearing is scheduled for May, and lawyers representing Epic and the plaintiffs hope that the deal will be approved as is.

Epic says that while the deal only affects US players, it is deciding to award 1,000 V-Bucks to all players in Fifteen days globally, as long as they buy at least one of their random loot. The proposed agreement also includes Rocket League players who purchased in-game items, such as event boxes or keys to open loot boxes in the game, and affected players will receive 1,000 credits to be automatically distributed this week in a similar manner. Epic acquired Rocket League developer Psyonix in 2019.

Epic says that, regarding the scope of the deal in the United States, the V-Bucks benefit will go to 6.5 million players who have purchased a random item to loot llama Fifteen days and 2.9 million Rocket League players who bought an event box or a key that was used to open a box.

“We stopped offering boxes of random items like Fifteen days Loot Llamas and Rocket League Boxes because we realized that some players were repeatedly disappointed not to receive the random items they expected, ”Epic CEO Tim Sweeney said in a statement to The Verge on Monday. “Players must know in advance what they are paying when making in-game purchases.”

The proposed deal also provides up to $ 26.4 million in additional cash and other benefits for Fifteen days and Rocket League players “to resolve complaints arising from players’ loot box purchases”, in other words, refunds on previous purchases that go beyond the standard settlement terms. This pool includes both parties’ attorney fees, according to Epic. But the preliminary agreement also includes a clause that would allow players who think they are subject to legal damages as part of random cashier purchases to argue for the money back.

This set of benefits is available to minors in California who used their own money, and not the money of a parent or guardian, to purchase Epic cashiers, which qualifies them for benefits under the state’s contract cancellation law . It also includes any Fifteen days or Rocket League player who thinks he is subject to legal damages, such as fraud, when buying Epic random loot boxes. In each case, a player can submit a claim to be investigated by a neutral administrator, with a potential refund premium of up to $ 50 in refunds.

For non-minors who take legal damage claims, Epic will award up to $ 50 or 13,500 V-Bucks (or 13,000 Rocket League credits) depending on the benefit the claimant prefers, if the claim is approved. US residents who believe they are entitled to these extra benefits can file a claim at www.epiclootboxsettlement.com, which Epic placed live on Monday afternoon.

Epic stopped selling random cashiers in 2019, replacing what was previously “V-Buck Llamas ” with“ X-Ray Llamas ”in Fortnite’s “Save the world” game mode. At the time, these blind-drawn llamas generated 50 V-Bucks (about 50 cents at the time) and contained a random assortment of skins, weapons or other items. Later that year, Rocket League it also removed the loot boxes, months after Epic acquired its creator Psyonix. According to Jacobson, Epic’s lawyer, the class action agreement is “an exclamation point in a position we first announced two years ago.”

Loot boxes are under fire from legislators and regulators around the world who claim that selling random chances of rare or coveted items in the game is similar to the game. Of particular concern to critics of the practice is that many of the players involved with loot box systems are children, sometimes using their own money, but usually with access to a parent or guardian’s credit card.

Many of the biggest games of the past decade, including entries in Electronic Arts’ FIFA franchise and Blizzard’s Overwatch, blindly sell cashboxes for real money, and business practice has proved profitable for game developers. In some cases, game companies make more money from microtransactions in the game, such as cashiers, than from selling games directly.

In 2018, Belgium decided that random draft boxes constituted illegal gambling and were subject to the country’s gambling law, forcing many prominent developers to discontinue practice in the country or change the way they allow players to buy and spend currency of the game at risk of high fines.

Although the United States has laws on online gambling, it does not consider cashiers as such, meaning that many games continue to offer them in the United States. Bills were introduced in Congress, as Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) proposed to protect children from the law from abusive games, but none were passed.