Dutch authorities slapped a 1.1-million-euro fine on Fortnite maker Epic Games on Tuesday, judging that vulnerable children were exploited and pressured into making purchases in the game's Item Shop.
Dutch authorities slapped a 1.1-million-euro fine on Fortnite maker Epic Games on Tuesday, judging that vulnerable children were exploited and pressured into making purchases in the game's Item Shop.Epic Games has filed an objection against the decision and proposed several changes to the game that the ACM said would resolve their concerns.
The ACM imposed the first fine over phrases in the game such as"Get it now" or"Buy now". Adverts directly exhorting children to make purchases are"an illegal aggressive commercial practice under all circumstances," said the ACM. The second fine was imposed for"deceptive" and"misleading" countdown timers that pressured children to make purchases quickly because they believed the item would disappear when the clock hit zero -- which was not always the case."Children's vulnerabilities were exploited and were thus pressured into making purchases," said ACM board member Cateautje Hijmans van den Bergh.
For the Netherlands, the firm will only offer purchases in the Item Shop that are available for 48 hours or more. "ACM is of the opinion that Epic will comply with the binding instruction if it implements the above changes," the statement said, adding that it would check after June 10.
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