Epic Games give out free Fortnite V-Bucks after lootbox lawsuit
After an arduous legal battle, Epic Games will now be reimbursing players of Fortnite and Rocket League who purchased and opened loot boxes in either game. They will receive free credits in their game accounts to use on the respective game stores.
The term “loot box” isn’t regarded too highly in the gaming community as the practice has been seen as gambling and locks content away behind paywalls. Epic Games has experienced much success in the last few years with both Fortnite and Rocket League, but they both included loot boxes at one point that required real money to acquire a random set of, possibly unwanted, items.
V-Buck llamas would cost players 50 V-Bucks and produce a random assortment of goodies. Epic then changed them to X-Ray llamas, meaning you would still pay 50 V-Bucks, but the contents of the llama woudl be known, and would change daily.
The class-action lawsuit has been going on for some time with Epic publicly denying any wrongdoing, believing that they haven’t deceived people, but understand why people are upset.
This is backed up by the verdict saying: “The proposed Settlement is not an admission of wrongdoing by Epic Games, and it denies that it violated the law. The Court has not decided who is right or wrong. Rather, to avoid the time, expense, and uncertainty of litigation, the Parties have agreed to settle the lawsuit.
How Fortnite players can claim back V-Bucks, points, and money
The official Epic Games Settlement mentions that “Epic Games will automatically add 1,000 Fortnite V-Bucks to each Fortnite: Save the World account that was used to acquire a random-item “Loot Llama” loot box, and 1,000 Rocket League Credits to each Rocket League account that was used to acquire a random item “Crate” loot box.”
In addition to this, Epic has also set aside $26.5 million to allow players to claim back extra expenses or further points. This can be done by submitting a claim form that can be found on the settlement page, and there is currently no deadline to claim.
Epic Games have even publically addressed the verdict by posting a Tweet from their official Newsroom Twitter handle explaining the situation.
It seems like Epic learned the error of their ways and it’s a huge positive that people are going to be reimbursed for loot box purchases.
The company has already done some good for online gaming with the Battle Pass system introduced in Fortnite. Many other companies have adopted this system, and perhaps they will follow suit with regards to loot boxes.
Image credits: Epic Games